Four brave Scotland fans are entering the Three Lions Den to support England's opponents DR Congo in the last-32 tie of the World Cup. Jim Simpson, 65, his son Jim Simpson, 37, and friend Ryan Filpi, 40, and son Callum Filpi, 12, are part of the Tartan Army and are inside Atlanta Stadium tonight solely to cheer on England's rivals in the knockout clash.
Cheeky Ticket Purchase
The cheeky Scots bought tickets for the match before Scotland crashed out of the tournament - and before they knew Thomas Tuchel's men from south of the border would be involved in the fixture. Defeats to Morocco and Brazil alongside results in other groups going against them meant the Dark Blues weren't one of the eight best third-placed teams, leading to a mass exodus of the Tartan Army over the weekend.
Donning Scotland strips, saltire flags, kilts, and See You Jimmy wigs, the group from Motherwell were interviewed inside the stadium ahead of a 5pm UK time kick-off, where they brazenly pledged their allegiance to Congo.
Spirited Support for DR Congo
"We got tickets before we knew England would be played here," joked Jim. "Being Scottish, we're not going to pass up a ticket. It's been very good spirited - so far. Of course we want Congo to win. Come on, Congo!" Jim continued: "The four of us decided to keep our tickets. That way, there'd be four fewer England fans here to see England get beat. We are thoroughly supporting DR Congo. We're having a good time and everything's been good. The England fans have been reasonably good with us so far."
Scotland's World Cup Journey
Around 50,000 Scotland fans travelled to Boston for the national team's opening two games against Haiti on June 13 and Morocco on June 19, which ended in a respective 1-0 victory and 1-0 defeat. The Tartan Army made a massive impression on Bostonians - persuading a local cop to perform keepy-uppies in the middle of the FIFA fan zone, and convincing another police officer to play a tune on the bagpipes. Boston and Glasgow even became sister cities after officials fell in love with our spirit.
Thousands of foot soldiers then made their way to Miami where antics included a young fan moonwalking on Ocean Drive and a kilted bagpiper rollerblading down 10th Street Beach during the Tartan Army takeover. Sadly, Scotland lost 3-0 to Carlo Ancelotti's side and a string of results from teams including Croatia, Iran, and Ecuador bumped Scotland further down the table, and they eventually lost their chance to qualify. The sad end to the nation's first World Cup in 28 years was further compounded by Steve Clarke's resignation.
