What do numbers tell us about Scotland's World Cup attacking intent?

Image source, Getty Images By Nick McPheat BBC Sport Scotland Published 2 hours ago Steve Clarke said he was a "different" man . After an underwhelming European Championships, the Scotland head coach hoped the nation's tournament showing on the world stage would be different too. But his side are on the brink of heading home at the first hurdle, in a similar fashion to their previous two finals appearances - with a whimper and without playing a historic knockout tie. Scoring just once in three group fixtures, poor attacking output has again been symptomatic of what will likely be another failed attempt to progress from the group stage. Here, BBC Scotland crunches the numbers behind that and looks at the potential deeper issues. From 42% to 5.26% - how Scotland's World Cup hopes are fading Published 8 hours ago Are Scotland 'not good enough' to impress at World Cup? Published 19 hours ago Latest from Scotland camp as World Cup hopes hang by thread What do numbers tell us? Scotland went to Euro 2024 hoping to make history and ended up creating records for all the wrong reasons. Across their three matches, they had 17 shots. Since the Euros group stage was introduced in 1980, that is the joint-fewest by any nation. Attacking numbers at the 2026 World Cup have also been sobering amid a summer of Tartan Army partying across Boston and Miami. Data will adjust as more nations play their final group matches, but as it stands, no team has scored fewer goals per match than Scotland. They are level at the foot of that chart with World Cup debutants Curacao, who sit 41 places below the Scots in the global rankings. Clarke's side's expected goals tally is middle-of-the-road but has been underperformed by 1.6. They also rank level with Curacao and Haiti for shots on target per game - only eight of the 48 nations at the finals have a lower average. Image source, PA Media After John McGinn scored against Haiti on matchday one, Clarke's side went 200 minutes before they managed another shot on target, which came via a Scott McTominay header in the 49th minute against Brazil. It is difficult to imagine what a Scotland goal looks like, especially with the talismanic McTominay enduring a challenging World Cup. In an ultimately successful qualifying campaign, which culminated in one of the greatest Scotland matches of all time - an astonishing 4-2 win over Denmark - their route to goal regularly came from moments or dead-ball situations. Many have felt this side are a moments team for quite some time now, and what moments they have provided during the nation's most successful period in a generation. However, there has always been a feeling that unconvincing performances in qualifying would eventually mean the moments would eventually run out. That has somewhat proved to be the case. Scottish Football Podcast: Scotland's World Cup on the brink Friday, 26 June Listen on Sounds Jonathan Sutherland, Andy Halliday and Stephen McGowan reflect on Scotland's World Cup group