“If you look at Brazil in the last game [against Haiti] before half-time, it’s 3-0,” Naismith pointed out. “The game that’s been on today [Spain led Saudi Arabia 3-0 after 24 minutes]… So there has to be a game plan, but that doesn’t mean we’re sitting around in our 18-yard box for 90 minutes because taking into consideration the conditions and the opposition, it’s impossible to do.”
The heat in Miami will be oppressive, considerably hotter than Boston. Expecting Scotland to ‘go for it’ like mad dogs in a meathouse betrays a serious lack of understanding of the weather here.
“It’s at moments in the game where we feel as if we’re dominating, then we need to take risks and be ready,” Naismith said. “But there’s going to be hard moments where we need to set our shape and wait.
“Some of their players have got similar traits to Morocco’s forward players. We’ll go and do what we need to do to get through the group.
“That’s ultimately what we’re here to do. But we need to make sure we’re solid because, as you’ve seen in some of the results, teams are ruthless when they get the opportunity.
“I sat here last week and said, if we qualify out of the group, it’s the first squad to do it. I think this squad deserves to do it. I think we’ve got the players to do it and I think we’ve got the manager to do it.
“The magnitude of these games is definitely as [big] as any games [the players] have played in, but you know you can be punished at any one moment. You’ve got to be switched on.”
Naismith talked about Scotland getting into the final third and then making poor decisions, which is a quality thing and, despite the reputations of some of these Scotland players they went up against more accomplished operators last Friday in Boston and they’ll be doing the same again on Wednesday in Miami.
“When we’ve got possession, and we’ve got a good feel in the game that we’re in control, we need to take risks to try and score,” he said. “That’s the bit that needs to change.
“We don’t need to go, ‘if we lose 4-0, we’ve still got a chance of going through’. We need to take the chances, definitely, but I’d rather have a proper game plan than just going, let’s go for it.”
That’s the essential weirdness of Scotland’s situation. If they’re trailing 1-0 late on, do they push, or do they settle? If they’re trailing 2-0, do they commit more people forward or chase the game and run the risk of conceding more and taking themselves out of the tournament on goal difference in the process?
These are dilemmas you hope they don’t have to face. Dan Marino, the greatest Miami Dolphin, once said of a player’s mindset: “You have to feel you’re the best at what you do. You don’t have to come out and say it. But you have to know it within yourself.”
Brazil will know it, that’s for certain. Scotland need to believe it, too.
A game of football, but also a fascinating and complex game of psychology. What a denouement to the group this promises to be.
