Scotland Brazil produced a comfortable 3-0 win in Miami for the quick & technically competent Brazil side. A hope-destroying Scotland performance was quickly undermined by regrettably sub-dire Scots mistakes. Hence from the slim pickings available, we spotlight the Scots who impressed most in the Scotland Brazil game.
Angus Gunn
Flashscore rated Gunn at 7.9. Consequently, he placed 9th as one of only 2 Scots punctuating an otherwise exclusively Brazilian list of the 13 top rated players. Gunn produced 5 saves with an xGOT faced of 4.8. Hence, Gunn’s saves were the difference between the Scots conceding only 3 rather than 5 goals.
Gunn certainly made positive contributions. However, he could have done better at the 2nd goal by claiming the cross headed in by Vini Jr. Correspondingly though, Nathan Patterson could also perhaps have prevented Vini Jr getting a free header. Upstream, Andy Robertson’s slack pass just before half-time, conceded possession leading to the cross that Gunn & Patterson failed to deal with. Thus, if any of those 3 errors hadn’t occurred, Scotland could well have gone into half-time break only one goal down instead of 2.
Considering the failure with that cross, Flashscore’s rating algorithm arguably gives Gunn an unwarrantedly high 7.9 rating. However, that doesn’t deny a repeat of something that occurred in the qualifiers. Namely, Gunn against Brazil yet again made terrific, vital saves that constructively influenced the scoreline. He spread himself well to deny Vini Jr a hat-trick and also made a super save against Rayan. Overall, a rating just below Tierney’s 6.8 would perhaps have been more appropriate.
Additionally, since discussing GKs: Brazil’s Alisson Becker’s 8.6 is the 4th highest Flashscore rating of the game. Alisson has an xGOT faced of 1.23. If judging by the xGOTs of both keepers, above expectation shot-stopping prevented a final score of 5-1 to Brazil.
Kieran Tierney
This website pre-match suggested starting Tierney at RB in the absence of injured Aaron Hickey. However, Steve Clarke started Tierney on the bench. Subsequently, Tierney replaced the injured Andy Robertson at half-time at LB. Consequently, Robertson was pictured sat on the bench with an ice pack around his ankle.
Tierney sparked some much needed verve into the Scots attack. Specifically, he put in dangerous crosses from the left flank that the hard running Scott McTominay ultimately was unable to convert.
Many have debated in the last decade, whether Robertson or Tierney should be first choice Scotland LB. Tierney’s case has been undermined by his all too often, cornflake-like fragility to injury. However, the contrasting Scotland LB performances in the 2 halves against Brazil present a solid case. Namely, Tierney when fit should now be first choice LB. Robertson, at 32 & three years older than 29-year-old Tierney, still offers much to contribute. However, Robertson should now be deputy between the 2.
Lewis Ferguson
Another industrious evening for the hardworking Ferguson, going about his work in his signature unselfish manner. Flashscore unsurprisingly rated Ferguson highest of the Scots at 8.2.
Also, he walks away from Group C as FotMob’s highest rated Scottish outfield player, not just in the Brazil game. FotMob also rate him highest of any Scottish outfield player against Haiti & Morocco. Ferguson won 10 ground duels (out of 15) against the Brazilians. 61 out of 67 completions in the same game give him an impressive 91% successful pass rate. Thus understandably, Flashscore rate Ferguson as the only Scot above 7.0 in all 3 Scotland games at World Cup 2026.
The FIFA website ranks Ferguson 1st in the game for offering to receive the ball, specifically in his case on 83 occasions. He also tops the crossing chart in the game with 6. Ferguson ran his socks off in this game (yet again). He seemed to be in some sort of personal competition with the player below to cover the most metres, not just in the game but in the entire competition. Ferguson’s 36.57 km covered in the group stage nudges him slightly ahead of McTominay on 36.35 km. Ferguson is thus in contention to top that chart for all 12 groups at the competition.
Ferguson is one of the few Scots to enhance their reputation at this World Cup. Already captain at Bologna, his lead-by-example performances have put him forward as a candidate to take the Scotland armband from Robertson.
Scott McTominay
In all 3 games, McTominay & Ferguson put in a ton of effort covering ground (see section on Ferguson above). Additionally, no player for either Brazil or Scotland applied a press more than McTominay’s 47 times in the game.
McTominay, desperate to impact the game, had 4 attempts on goal, 3 of which were on target. Such are the fine margins in professional football. On another day that could have resulted in not just one but maybe even a couple of goals. McTominay would’ve been lauded as a hero. Ultimately it didn’t come off for McTominay at World Cup 2026. That though was not through lack of effort on his part. His lead-by-example performances make him another strong candidate to succeed Robertson as captain.
