Scotland return to centre stage at last in must-win World Cup opener

Image source, PA Media Image caption, Head coach Steve Clarke faces the biggest team talk of his career By Tom English BBC Scotland's chief sports writer in Boston Published 31 minutes ago Steve Clarke is ready to make the most important speech of his managerial life, a speech that a succession of Scotland managers over the last 28 largely painful years would have given anything to make. What for so long had seemed like a pipe dream - as attainable as a lottery win - is now a reality staring Scotland in the face. After missing out on six World Cups in a row, and maybe surrendering to fatalism along the way, game day is upon us here in the United States. We can play these games forever - the old prime ministers and presidents when Scotland were last at a World Cup, the things that are commonplace now but were not invented then, the music that was in vogue, the simplicity of the way the media was back then compared to the revolution that has happened since. All of that stuff reflects the passage of time - more than 10,000 days - and the way things have changed. It's been a relative eternity. Sometimes, to the Tartan Army, it must have felt that days like these would never come again. Scotland's McTominay 'ready to go' after illness Published 15 hours ago Scotland boss Clarke by those who know him best Published 14 hours ago Is Shankland finally the striker Scotland have been waiting for? Published 21 hours ago We know that Clarke keeps his emotions in check most of the time, but we also know that he can be moving when he wants to be, as he was when addressing his players before the momentous Denmark game at Hampden in November, the night that electrified a nation. All of the work is done now, all of the analysis of Haiti, all of the match strategy and the mechanisms to cope with the heat and humidity are firmly in place. Clarke probably doesn't need to talk to the soul of these players anymore, because none of them need any reminding of what they're playing for here. That's not to say that Clarke won't go there. They are the lucky ones - the players chosen to start and the cavalry that will come off the bench. The history of Scottish football is loaded with really good and truly great players who have never had the privilege of playing at a World Cup. To go back in time - John Greig, Tommy Gemmell, Billy McNeill, Ron Yeats. None of them got this far. Bobby Murdoch, Jim Baxter, Bertie Auld, Stevie Chalmers the same. Jimmy Johnstone made a World Cup squad but never played. That list is in no way exhaustive. It's just a snapshot of the legends who didn't get to do what Clarke's men are about to do. From the more recent crop, there's James McFadden and Scott Brown, Darren Fletcher and Barry Ferguson, Kenny Miller and Callum McGregor. You could go on and on citing the ones who missed out, sometimes narrowly, sometimes overwhelmingly and, at times, embarrassingly. Best look forward, though. Because forward is a happy place, for now. In Charlotte this wee