One night in Miami: The Scotsmen of the apocalypse

Image source, Getty Images By Scott Mullen BBC Sport Scotland in Miami Published 26 minutes ago Kylian Mbappe hovered surreptitiously in the shadows, only noticeable as the lights flickered off the beaming white number 10 on his broad royal blue back. Just a handful of yards away, Lamine Yamal scanned the scene. Scouring. Waiting. Four Colombians huddled together, discussing tactics, plotting their next move. And in the far corner, Erling Haaland, carrying a plate of chips, returned to Mrs Haaland amid the chaos and through the plumes spewing out of the smoke machine. It's Friday night. It's downtown Miami. It's party time. The bar in East Flagler Street pulsed with life and danced to the beat of the World Cup. A multitude of nations were represented in this local hostelry. Mingling. Chatting. Dancing. Absorbing. But not everyone. In the centre of the floor, five figures stood out from the crowd, marked by their own shiftiness and pre-occupation amid the chaos. A giant projector screen at the end of the room lit up with the moving image of Belgium against New Zealand in the World Cup, the big tie of the penultimate night of group games. As the music cranked up and the buckets of beer rattled with shards of ice, the five Scotsmen of the apocalypse drank studiously while looking the other way. On every second smaller television dotted around the bar, Egypt took on Iran, carrying the dreams of two nations. The group's gaze barely shifted as the game kicked off thousands of miles away. Scotland's World Cup hopes at 0.07% - these are results they need Published 3 hours ago Is a former England striker right about reasons for Scottish football's ills? Published 16 hours ago What do numbers tell us about Scotland's World Cup attacking intent? Published 22 hours ago While Scotland head coach Steve Clarke had given up hope of his team escaping out of their World Cup group, this particular bunch of Scottish natives clearly had not. The Scots, crippled by a deadly combo of profligacy and self destruction, needed snookers. In fact, they needed snookers while playing blind-folded and without a cue ball. Even John Higgins, the Wizard of Wishaw, would struggle to get them out of this jam. To progress, Clarke's side need four fellow third-placed teams to finish on three points with a goal difference worse than -3, or with fewer points. Until Spain's victory earlier in the Miami night, every settled group had done the opposite. Now, with Egypt winning, it looked as though the Scots would require two from Saturday's three unsettled groups to come through for them. A monumentally tall order, but not an impossible one, given the punch of the air from the Scots in this bar as Mahmoud Saber turned in Egypt's opener. Nine minutes later, as a man in a Premier League top unsuccessfully attempted to charm a young lady a few feet away at the bar, Iran levelled, puncturing the mood at one particular table. The music seemed to get even louder as the game went on and the tensi