'Recover and pray': Scotland players cheer on World Cup favours from Charlotte base

Kieran Tierney admits Scotland players will be watching the World Cup as fans until the group games conclude this weekend.

There is nothing else the Scotland camp can do but sit tight and calculate who needs what to re-ignite Scottish hopes of qualifying for the second stage.

Among the desired results is Spain beating Uruguay in Group H in the early hours of Saturday morning. South Africa’s surprise victory over South Korea shortly after Scotland’s 3-0 loss to Brazil was a further dent to the ambitions of Steve Clarke’s side. All they can do is wait and watch at their team base in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Kieran Tierney and his Scotland teammates were floored by their World Cup defeat by Brazil. | Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

“We need to see who does what,” said Tierney. “We’re waiting on favours, so we'll be supporting the teams that we need to support to get us through.

“We didn't want to be in this position. We wanted to do it ourselves. It was a really tough group, a really tough draw, but we know ourselves—we could have done a lot better, especially (v Brazil).

“We're flat,” he added. “It's not a great result for us. It means now we're waiting on other teams to do us favours. All you can do now is hope...Back to the base, hope, recover – and pray.”

On the subject of training, which the players will continue doing following a day off on Thursday, he stressed the need to maintain professionalism.

“We're all professionals,” he said. “We've been in good situations and bad situations before. So we'll deal with it. Individually, everyone's got their own way of coping with it and dealing with it.”

Tierney came on a half time for skipper Andy Robertson against Brazil and made his presence felt on the left. He started in left midfield in the 1-0 defeat to Morocco, putting in a good shift before making way for Ben Gannon-Doak.

“That result wasn't a disaster,” he said. “This (Brazil) was one where I feel like we could have done better.”

Tierney rued the concession of a third, possibly defining, goal on the hour mark in Miami. “I think the third one could end up being a killer,” he said. “The chances drop a lot from minus two goal difference to minus three. But the experience so far has been amazing. The fans were amazing."