It's been 28 years since referee Ali Bujsaim blew the final whistle at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to signal not only the end of the Scottish campaign at France '98 -- Morocco had scored three goals without reply on a balmy evening in Saint-Étienne -- but also the last time Scotland's men played in a World Cup.
Three things really illustrate and put into context just how long ago that was in footballing terms:
ESPN pundit Craig Burley, one of the youngest members of Craig Brown's squad in 1998 (he was also sent off in that Morocco match), now has multiple grandchildren
Scotland's starting goalkeeper in France, Jim Leighton, will celebrate his 68th birthday five days after this summer's World Cup final
And a whole generation of Scots, including eight members of Steve Clarke's current squad, were not even born when Scotland last performed on international football's biggest stage
After six failed qualifications since 1998, in which the Tartan Army missed out on experiences in Japan/South Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar, Scotland are finally dining at football's top table once more. And that means haggis is back on the menu, but only on one condition: it must be manufactured domestically in the States using modified recipes due to an antiquated 1971 US law prohibiting the importation of any food item for human consumption containing lung meat from livestock. Offal news for Scottish traditionalists...
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Steve Clarke is about to take charge of Scotland at a major tournament for the third time. Nobody else has ever done that. The 62-year-old also joins Andy Beattie (1954), Dawson Walker (1958 -- deputising for Matt Busby), Willie Ormond (1974), Ally MacLeod (1978), Jock Stein (1982), Alex Ferguson (1986), Andy Roxburgh (1990) and Craig Brown (1998) as the only men to lead Scotland into battle at a World Cup.
So what would represent success for Clarke and his players in this tournament?
The answer is simple: progression. If the squad's luxury charter flight is not heading back to Glasgow the day after Scotland face Brazil in Miami on June 24 then qualification for the knockout stage for the first time ever will have been secured.
There's a fine line between success and failure, however. Only 16 of the 48 nations taking part in this World Cup will not qualify for the round of 32. And if Scotland are one of those 16 countries going home after playing only the minimum number of games at the tournament, then questions will be asked of Scottish Football Association (SFA) chief executive Ian Maxwell -- Steve Clarke's boss -- following the SFA's decision at the end of last month to award the national team manager a four-year contract extension.
This 26-man squad assembled by the manager has plenty of ability, even if it's not the most talented group to represent Scotland at a World Cup. The likes of Tommy Docherty, Dave Mackay, Billy Bremner, Denis Law, Kenny Dalglish, Joe Jordan and Graeme Souness have all graced football's biggest stage, although none of them were able to help their nation successfully navigate a safe passage beyond the initial groups.
This time around -- attempt number nine -- there's a good chance it might be different. The odds of qualifying are certainly the best they've ever been for competing countries. Two thirds of participating nations will progress from the initial phase, including eight of the twelve third-place finishers. And with more than a third of the Scotland squad playing domestically for Premier League teams, including recent Europa League winner John McGinn plus Napoli talisman Scott McTominay, whose stunning overhead kick against Denmark at Hampden in the final qualifying match sent the Tartan Army into raptures, Steve Clarke's men should be good enough to finish at least third in Group C, where three points and a positive goal difference is likely to be enough to secure a place in the round of 32.
Taking both the current FIFA world rankings and ELO Ratings into account, Scotland seem to have done OK to be drawn in Group C along with Brazil, Morocco and Haiti. They'll face the fifth-toughest top seed (Brazil), the second-toughest second seed (Morocco) but, crucially, the third-easiest lowest seed (Haiti), with only New Zealand and DR Congo ranked lower by FIFA, albeit Haiti played well when defeating New Zealand 4-0 in their first warmup match on U.S. soil at the start of June.
With eight of the 12 third-place teams going through, and the likelihood of one comfortable win probably being enough to qualify, the most important thing for Clarke when the draw was made was getting a favourable team from Pot 4 and avoiding UEFA playoff winners, which included the likes of Türkiye, Sweden and Czechia.
Whether Scotland's campaign goes down as a success or a failure is likely to depend heavily on the result of that opening group fixture against Haiti in Massachusetts. Victory is non-negotiable, preferably scoring enough against the Caribbean nation to still end up with a positive goal difference if the worst was subsequently to happen and Clarke's men were to lose against both Morocco and Brazil.
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According to the Football Meets Data. three points and a neutral goal difference would give Scotland a 96% chance of qualifying for the knockout stage. Three points and a minus one goal difference stills means an 87.5% chance of going though. But the percentage quickly drops to 69.4% with a goal difference of minus two and below fifty per cent for minus three (47.3%) and minus four (29.2%).
Therefore, if Scotland only get a draw against Haiti in their first match, they would then have to remain unbeaten in the other two group games -- against Morocco and Brazil -- to go through (unless a series of remarkable results occur elsewhere in the group). But if the unthinkable happens and Scotland lose their opening game against the lowest-ranked team in the group (which they did in 1990 against Costa Rica) then anything other than a win against either the Moroccans or the Brazilians would mean the squad packing their bags.
Tens of thousands of members of the Tartan Army will be in attendance to support Scotland during this World Cup, with expats living in the States joined by Scots flying in from the United Kingdom and around the world, but there are a variety of reasons why a repeat of the scenes from the Euros in Germany two years ago, where it was estimated 200,000 Scottish fans flocked to Munich for the opening game against the host nation, are highly unlikely.
First of all, it's expensive to get here, expensive to stay here, expensive to attend games here and, thanks to local authorities in Massachusetts and Florida, expensive for Scotland fans to get to and from the stadiums. Apart from that...
Secondly, although Boston and Miami are classed as the host cities for Scotland's three group games, the actual venues for the fixtures are miles away from there, and not easy to get to on a matchday.
Gillette Stadium is located in the town of Foxborough, approximately 22 miles southwest of Boston, and with just one main road in and out. On a good day, with little to no traffic, it still takes around 50 minutes by car from downtown. But on a bad day...
Hard Rock Stadium is located in the city of Miami Gardens, approximately 16 miles north of Miami. On a good day, with little to no traffic, it still takes around 30 minutes by car from downtown. But on a bad day...
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Thirdly, the Tartan Army will be far more spread out for this World Cup than they were in Germany. For the two games in Boston, several thousand fans are staying in nearby states Rhode Island and Connecticut, and some are even as far afield as New York -- about a four-hour drive on a matchday. And for the third fixture against Brazil at Hard Rock Stadium, most supporters not staying in downtown Miami are basing themselves along the Atlantic coastline from Miami Beach all the way up to Cocoa Beach in central Florida. Some are even staying in Orlando and taking the kids to Disney World then doing the seven-hour, 500-mile round trip to watch Scotland.
The Proclaimers famously said they would walk that far, then they would do so again, and you can be rest assured every member of the Tartan Army would gladly walk a thousand miles from Miami to the next destination if that meant their World Cup journey continued beyond the group stage for the first time. And it would also give those letters from America extra time to arrive back in Scotland before the sender does.