Scotland 0-3 Brazil: Vinícius and Cunha put Scottish World Cup dreams in doubt

Scotland 0-3 Brazil: Vinícius and Cunha put Scottish World Cup dreams in doubtScotland’s hopes of making the World Cup knockout stages for the first time in their history took a hit as Vinícius Júnior’s brace inspired Brazil to a 3-0 win at Miami Stadium.The Real Madrid winger was gifted the opener by a disastrous mistake by Scott McKenna before his second was ruled out for a foul on his fellow defender Jack Hendrie, but headed home to double Brazil’s advantage on the stroke of half time.Matheus Cunha slotted home number three on the hour mark to send the six-time winners through as Group C winners and put Scotland’s dreams of reaching the round of 32 as the third-placed team into serious doubt, by ending on -3 goal difference.

As it happenedScotland’s game plan was out the window mere minutes in for the second game running when Scott McKenna – introduced in the place of Grant Hanley – gave the ball away inside his own penalty area with a risky pass out from the back.Vinícius gobbled up the loose ball, ghosted past an off-guard Angus Gunn and slotted into an empty net to condemn Steve Clark’s men to the worst possible start to what was going to be an uphill battle from the offset.The Tartan Army would then breathe a huge collective sigh of relief when VAR spotted contact from the Real Madrid superstar on the standing heel of Jack Hendrie, when he pinched the ball and slotted in number two with 20 minutes gone.

What was initially expected to be his fourth goal of the tournament was chalked off after a swift review.Scotland did find a rare chance to level in the first half when John McGinn crossed into a horde of teammates who all contested for the same header inside the penalty area, and all missing the opportunity.They survived a second scare when one of their defenders almost diverted a low ball across goal into his own net via a deflection off of the goalkeeper, who was left helpless when Vinícius headed in his second when Nathan Patterson dozed off at the back post