World Cup 2026: Cape Verde – Scotland’s template against Morocco?

Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry were impressive in Scotland’s opener, both making crucial saves as Haiti struggled to equalize after John McGinn’s strike.

Whether head coach Steve Clarke keeps that centre-back combination, or brings in a fit Scott McKenna again – switching to a back five where he can play all of them – Scotland’s entire defense should show Cape Verde’s ferocious desire to defend against the Spaniard.

Former Scotland winger Pat Nevin told BBC Radio 5 Live at the Atlanta Stadium: “One of the big things that Cape Verde does and the manager has talked about is getting the culture of the country itself and everybody buys in. If you do that, everybody works for everybody else.”

“Boy, what a sight to see players outwork each other. They spent most of the game on their own 18 yard line, not all of it. When they were fouled, they were brave and broke their numbers.”

“To do that and maintain that level of focus, you don’t do that if you’re a bunch of individuals, you only do that if you’re a team, if you’re a team, you trust each other. And it shines.

“I watched Sidney Cabral start the game and I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, he’s waiting for danger the way he’s going’ – but he’s got every one of them right.

“You look at Diney Borges, again, at the beginning of the game he looked like a cat. At the end of the game, he was a lion.”