Tag Archives: 2026 world cup

In less than 6 hours’ time, Scotland will play their first World Cup match against Haiti in Boston.

I’ll be honest. I struggle to care about football unless it involves Inverness Caledonian Thistle or Ross County, and even then I don’t actually have to watch it.

I knew so little about this World Cup that it was only last night that I realised that the Scotland game was in the middle of tonight. I’d previously assumed that because the Scottish Government had made Monday a bank holiday (which only 6 of the 32 Scottish local authorities are taking) that the match had to be in the middle of Sunday night.

My first experience of the World Cup was in 1978, when Scotland qualified to go to Argentina and I was totally caught up in the hype of Ally’s Tartan Army. I also had a monster crush on Kenny Dalglish. I was incredibly disappointed at the outcome – typically, we beat Holland, but lost to and drew with teams who were below us in the international rankings.

Fast forward nearly 50 years and here we are again. Several of my friends are over there in Boston – some staying for the whole tournament. Some people have spent thousands on travel and accommodation. You would have to have a heart of stone not bo be moved by the sight of the Tartan Army in Boston’s hostelries and squares. When an American reporter described them as “perfectly unhinged” last night, I seriously had never been prouder.

I would like nothing better than for the Scottish team to fight their way to the Final and then, after a brilliant game in which every single player excelled themselves, score in the last minute to take the trophy. But I can dream that without needing to watch a single game.

I hope that everyone who is sitting up tonight has a marvellous time. And I know that there are people of many nationalities reading this. Let’s just hope we have a tournament that brings joy.

Anyway, newly elected Scottish Lib Dem MSPs Sanne Dijkstra-Downie and Adam Harley had a chat about the World Cup the other day.

Sanne describes a recurring nightmare of the Dutch team that will be familiar to England fans too. Let’s hope that we don’t end up with too many blood-pressure busting penalty shootouts.

Happy World Cup everyone!