What Scotland's Saying

Morning Edition

Scotland has not qualified for a World Cup since 1998, and the country is taking a moment to register what that means. The mood is not triumphant exactly — it is something closer to disbelief held carefully, as though the fact might shatter if handled too roughly.

The Tartan Army has landed in the United States and is, by all accounts, conducting itself with the decorum the reputation demands. The Americans, it appears, are charmed. Whether that goodwill extends to FIFA is another matter entirely. The organisation and its president are receiving sustained contempt from Scottish supporters, the kind that has clearly been accumulating for some time.

Scott McTominay's fitness ahead of the opening match against Haiti is the anxiety that sits beneath the celebration. His absence would be felt before a ball is kicked. As for the poll suggesting ten percent of fans expect Scotland to lift the trophy, the reaction has been one of fond, forensic dismissal.

Commercially, the qualification is being leveraged with some energy, from football clubs to transport operators. The tournament is now currency.

At home, bereaved families are waiting for an investigation into maternity care failures that, they say, should have begun years ago. In Greenock, a woman has been charged under hate crime legislation following a protest outside accommodation for asylum seekers, with two further arrests made on separate grounds.

Scotland this morning is, as ever, holding several entirely different emotions at once, and managing it reasonably well.