Delta Air Lines handed out snacks and a thank-you speech to Scotland fans on a flight from Boston to Miami. It was a good week for the Tartan Army. Whether the football matches the hospitality is a different question entirely.
As supporters boarded, a Delta staff member addressed the cabin to thank them for what they'd brought to the city. The airline had already leaned into it — offering priority boarding on selected flights for fans wearing kilts or carrying bagpipes. Boston didn't just tolerate the Tartan Army. It threw its arms around them.
Boston gave Scotland a week to remember
The peak of it came after the 1-0 win over Haiti in Foxborough. Thousands of fans marched through Boston and straight into Fenway Park for the Red Sox's Scottish Heritage Night. Kilts, bagpipes, blue Scotland-Red Sox jerseys, chants bouncing off MLB's oldest ballpark. Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said it felt like a soccer match. It basically was.
That's the backdrop Scotland are carrying into the final group game. Three points, one win, one loss — a 1-0 defeat to Morocco. Brazil and Morocco sit on four points each above them in Group C. Haiti are done.
A draw against Brazil in Miami almost certainly puts Scotland through to the Round of 32, either as second in the group or as one of the better third-placed sides. A win would be the kind of result that gets talked about for decades. A narrow defeat might still be enough depending on other results — but that's the kind of maths Scotland fans have spent their whole lives doing, and it rarely ends well.
Scotland's ceiling in this tournament
Realistically, Steve Clarke's side sneak through in third and then draw a heavyweight — Germany, France, Mexico. The Round of 32 looks like the sensible outer limit unless the bracket opens up in their favour. That makes Scotland a tough side to back at any meaningful odds beyond the group stage, even if they do get through.
The trip south from Boston has been earned. Now comes the bit that matters.
