Lyndon Dykes insists Scotland’s very own fight club can land one on the chin of the rest of the world over the next seven days - by flooring two of the biggest teams in the tournament in quick succession, writes Keith Jackson in Charlotte.
The Aussie born striker was in a bullish mood as he faced questions at the team training base here in Charlotte ahead of back-to-back Group C showdowns with Morocco in Boston on Friday night and Brazil in Miami the following Wednesday.
Dykes is adamant that Steve Clarke’s men can make light work of both of them to storm into the knock-out stages as well as secure themselves with a place in Scottish football history.
And he says the fact that so many people think such a scenario would be all but impossible has lit a fire in the belly of Clarke’s squad.
Dykes said: “A lot of people on the outside world - or pundits of whatever - doubt us in certain situations. But we always spin that around and turn up. And we need to make sure we do that on Friday.
“It does fire you up and I think it should. It certainly does for myself.
“The way I have come through football I have earned where I’ve got to. It’s been all about hard work.
“I think for Scottish people in general, when people doubt you you want to prove them wrong because we are fighters. We want to go out there and prove everyone wrong.
“We are not going to go out there and just roll over or just take it. We are always going to fight and I think, for everyone, that gives you a burning feeling in your belly.”
A point against Morocco would be enough to almost guarantee a place in the next phase of the competition. But Dykes has revealed the real target is to take nine Group C points out of nine.
And asked why he thinks Scotland will follow up an opening win over Haiti with a similar result against the A listers from North Africa he answered: “I believe we can beat them because of my team and my team-mates I train with every day.
“We’ve got a fighting spirit. And growing up in my sporting career, I’ve learned never to write off an underdog, even if people are better than you or teams are better than you.
“When people don’t believe in you, it doesn’t mean you should just give up.
“I think we can definitely get another two wins in this tournament. It’s tournament football so anything can happen.
“It’s been really difficult for teams to win which you can see from recent results all over the World Cup.
“It’s going to be difficult but I believe in myself, my team and the manager. Also, all the fans who have travelled over, they help us to win games.
There is even a remarkable set of circumstances which could become reality on Friday night if Dykes does end up on the winning side back in Boston.
Because if Haiti also take a point off from Brazil then Scotland would have qualified as group winners with one game to spare. And he grinned: “We’d take that! It could happen, it’s not ridiculous.
“But we just have to focus on ourselves. We want to go into this game and take three points.
“And in the last one, we want to get at least some points. We don’t want to get none.
“Ideally, if that plays out we’ll take that no problem - and keep knocking through to the final, that would be fine.”
And Dykes believes the pressure has lifted off the Scotland squad after sticking three points on the board at the first attempt.
He said: “It was a big game for us but we were prepared for it and we’ve been in big games recently. Everyone was saying it was a must-win, which it was.
“After it, we were relieved. But we also knew that we should be winning because we all believe in ourselves, with the games we’ve had and what we’ve built as a team.
“Against Haiti, we were just happy that we got three points because we felt it was deserved.
“It was never just going to get given to us. They were a hard team and we had to work hard for it.
“It wasn’t our best football but Haiti looked dangerous in situations. At the end of the night, we needed three points and we got it. Morocco won’t be thinking we’re mugs so it will be a difficult game for both teams.”
