Scotland U20 1 - 0 Brazil U20: Young Scots make history

Greg Taylor netted a superb, famous winning goal as Scotland defeated Brazil for the first time ever at any level in a deserved win at the Toulon Tournament.

Scotland's match-winner, Greg Taylor of Kilmarnock. Picture: TGSPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

The Scots had previously faced the South American superstars ten times without success.

But Scot Gemmill’s under-20 side produced a brilliant display in Fos-Sur-Mer in the prestigious tournament against a Brazilian side who were so thoroughly smothered by the hard-working Scots they failed to muster a single shot on target.

Scotland, who had lost their opening game to Czech Republic, now face Indonesia on Tuesday as they attempt to reach the 
semi-finals.

Gemmill hailed a magnificent display from his youngsters against the nine-times winners of the tournament.

He said: “I’m so proud of the players. We challenged them before the game to execute our game plan and they did it perfectly. I’m absolutely thrilled for them.

“We had a disappointing result in our first game, but to go and beat Brazil was the perfect response.

“Hopefully, everyone is delighted with that back home and I hope the players get the credit they deserve. It is a massive achievement and they put in a massive performance and I hope it does get acknowledged. To contain a team like Brazil and limit their chances was fantastic, but we also created chances.

“I don’t think anyone could have complained if we had scored at least one or two more goals. It was such a mature performance against a team that most sides struggle to play against. The players deserve all the credit in the world to play with desire and passion.

“Greg’s goal was brilliant. We’ve seen down the years goals by Brazilian full-backs who burst forward to score and Greg has done just that. It’s a fantastic moment for him.”

The young Scots missed a golden opportunity to opening the scoring midway through the first half. Oliver Burke accelerated through the gears on the wing when he collected Celtic right-back’s Anthony Ralston’s pass and he teed it up on a plate for the onrushing Craig Wighton, but the Dundee forward completely mishit his shot and the ball screwed wide.

They missed an even bigger chance in the 25th minute when Kyle Magennis released Burke who again sprinted clear, but with just goalkeeper Phelipe Megiolaro to beat, the RB Leipzig winger was denied by a fine save by the Gremio shot-stopper.

But Scotland kept attacking and stunned Brazil with a thoroughly deserved opening goal four minutes before the interval. Burke collected the ball on the left wing, made progress in the box before he spotted a run being made by Taylor who produced a quite stunning finish into the top of the net, Brazilian-like in its quality.

Brazil just couldn’t cope with Burke’s pace and power and he set up another chance ten minutes after the break when he steamed clear on the right flank and found Chelsea’s Ruben Sammut, but his shot was palmed away by Megiolaro.

Burke then ran over half the length of the pitch and burst clear from four separate Brazilian challenges before firing over in a quite spectacular lung-busting run.

Rangers striker Ryan Hardie missed a glorious chance to seal the win with four minutes remaining but shot at the keeper. It didn’t matter, though, and Scotland dug in for a sensational victory.