Tom English: Scotland’s ill-fated World Cup story finally ends in remission

There is a suggestion that the Scotland squad is full of quality, but that argument doesn’t hold much water, if you’re being brutally honest.

This is a team full of effort. There are good to very good players sprinkled around the squad, but the squads are somewhat average, at best, in the rarefied air of a World Cup.

This is not to disparage players who have guts for their country. It is an attempt to explain the real world in which they live. Angus Gunn failed to get a game for Nottingham Forest. Aaron Hickey is a great player but has been plagued by injuries. Nathan Patterson will struggle to get game time with Everton. Jack Hendry finished seventh in the Saudi Pro League. Grant Hanley, for all his fantastic resilience, is not a top class international defender.

After a mistake against Morocco, Hanley was replaced by Scott McKenna against Brazil. McKenna made a horrendous mistake seven minutes later. He is a good player who won the Croat League with Dinamo Zagreb.

Number of Croatia-based players in their World Cup squad: Two. Number of appearances in games so far: One.

In last season’s Europa League, Dynamo finished 23rd in the group of 36, and McKenna’s side are struggling at the top because the team is not, in reality, Europe’s top tier.

Kieran Tierney is a great footballer but injuries limit his impact. He played one 90-minute game during the season. Andy Robertson has been fantastic at Liverpool for many years but was off the bench for most of last season’s Premier League games.

Scott McTominay has been talked about a lot. A goalie who wasn’t very good against the big boys in midfield.

McTominay has the ability to make wonderful individual moments and is undoubtedly one of Serie A’s true stars. The issue here is how good is Serie A?

Napoli were the Italian champions two seasons ago, but in the Champions League last season they have won two games in eight games and are 30th in the table. Serie A and Italian football in general is not what it used to be.

The Azzurri have failed to qualify for the last three World Cups. Just because McTominay lit things up for Napoli, expecting him to light things up in America was a tall order for him.

John McGinn is a favorite. He’s done a lot in a Scotland shirt, but the “Super John McGinn” chant is now more of a plaintive cry than a statement of fact. Just like Aston Villa’s most respected leader, McGinn will need strong players around him to get a good performance.

Clarke played him on the left – not his best position – because he needed the speed of Ben Gannon-Dock on the right. Gannon-Doc is a genuinely exciting prospect but his high form with Scotland has suffered and he denies playing just 150 minutes for Bournemouth this season.

Ryan Christie, another player selected from the club’s best position, started just 9 league games for Bournemouth and made another 17 substitute appearances.

Although not always a guaranteed starter for Bologna, the brilliant Lewis Ferguson was probably the pick of the Scottish players in America.

Although none of the Scottish attackers hit them, it was partly because they had precious little to eat. They played hard but fruitless changes. None of these men lost effort. They clearly want to do well.