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It is not only ghosts from Costa Rica, Peru, Iran or Zaire that haunt Scotland as they prepare for a long-awaited World Cup return. Instead, there is a broader pattern of failure that Steve Clarke and his class of 2026 need to extricate the nation from. From 23 games on football’s biggest stage, the Scots have won only four times. The expansion of the World Cup should assist them, a team who now and correctly regard merely qualifying for major tournaments as insufficient.

Scotland were unbeaten in 1974 yet took an early path home from West Germany. More than 50 years later, a comfortable win over Haiti should be enough to seal progression to the last 32. It is impossible to shake the notion that Scotland’s World Cup fate is dependent on game one in Boston against a side who lack nothing in national cause. Haiti’s pace and physicality will cause some tartan tremors. Nonetheless, taking on the 83rd-ranked team in the world with history-making on the line is an appetising deal.

The past is significant in assessing how Scotland might handle the future. It will barely matter to Andy Robertson, John McGinn and Scott McTominay that 16 June 1990 and a 2-1 success over Sweden marks the last time Scotland tasted World Cup victory, but scars from Euro 2024 are still visible. Scotland landed in Germany adamant lessons had been learned from the previous tournament staging, when tanks were emptied during a draw at Wembley and not replenished by the time Croatia swaggered towards a win at Hampden Park. Rather than display progression, Scotland froze; an opening game thrashing by Germany preceded a decent draw against Switzerland before Clarke and his team exited in meek fashion at the hands of Hungary.

In recent days Clarke has dropped his stoical approach. He pined for the World Cup as a player but never took the call. Clarke encountered stress as the European Championships of 2021 and 2024 proved anticlimactic. The manager’s sunny disposition will remain if Haiti are vanquished. Falling short, in what would deliver a grim glance at World Cups of old, will unleash ferocious criticism of Scotland’s manager from way beyond Massachusetts. Now is the time for Scotland to meet huge expectation and move discussion on from the spine-tingling November occasion when qualification was sealed with the 4-2 dismissal of Denmark.

“We had that amazing night six months ago but that is gone,” says Kenny McLean, who scored Scotland’s fourth goal from the halfway line. “We are here now and we need to focus on the here and now. We know how special this can be for us. We know we are in a good place to create more memories for us and for the country and our families.

“We know it is all about what we do and we think we have everything in place to be as good as we can be and create history. We know that fans are flooding into the country and we know the excitement is there.” Or as a Boston radio station put it on Friday morning: Scots have flooded their city with smiles, kilts and bagpipes. Grim results from the past should not disguise the fact any World Cup is a better place with Scotland in it. Scots are, however, expected to be outnumbered by fans of all three of their Group C opponents. Morocco and Brazil lie in wait post-Haiti.

Scotland’s relationship with the World Cup requires counselling. The country opted not to feature in the 1950 edition, when apparently in a huff over losing a home international to England. In 1954 Scotland arrived in Switzerland with only 13 players and little by way of organisation. “We didn’t even have Scotland tracksuits,” said Willie Fernie, part of that squad, afterwards. “We had to bring our own training gear. And what a peculiar lot we looked among the world’s best, with the green of Celtic and the white of Preston and the blue of Dundee contrasting with the beautifully turned out teams of Europe and South America. We looked like liquorice allsorts.” Uruguay duly trounced Scotland 7-0.

There was ignorance and arrogance among Scots back then. The same applied in 1990, when Scotland fell to an embarrassing defeat to Costa Rica. Eight years later Scotland slumped to defeat by Morocco in Saint-Étienne and departed the World Cup scene for almost three decades.

There is cause for optimism now. Scotland have enjoyed five-star facilities at their training base in North Carolina. They will be armed with information on Haiti, a dangerous but hardly elite opponent. Scotland’s players speak regularly of lingering anger from Germany two years ago, which, it is reasonable to think, will incentivise them in the United States. “There are no excuses,” says McGinn. “We have to give everyone involved huge credit. They’ve put a lot of effort in. We’ve had the luxury of not having a playoff and had time to analyse where is best for us to be successful. We have come to a world-class facility and we have so much to help make us better. Credit has got to go to the manager and the staff. It’s a very professional environment.” It is also one including match winners, McTominay chief among them, with his post-Manchester United career ascent such that a prominent World Cup role feels appropriate.

Scotland should not be expected to beat Morocco. Brazil are, well, Brazil. The mission for Clarke is to ensure Scotland are playing with house money after game one. They have to break their own tournament mould and relish the position of favourites. The reward for that is bigger than ever.