Steve Clarke admits his players have been left ‘devastated’ after three massive refereeing calls cost them the chance of securing a place in the World Cup knock-outs.
Referee Controversy
Flaky Uzbekistani official Ilgiz Tantashev turned down two strong penalty claims for both John McGinn and Scott McTominay as Scotland went down to a 1-0 defeat here in Boston against hotly fancied Morocco.
Clarke was also convinced that the North Africans were fortunate not to be reduced to ten men before half time when stopper Issa Diop brought down Che Adams when the striker looked to be bursting clear towards goal.
The defeat means Scotland must now attempt to secure the point that would create history when they face Brazil in Miami on Wednesday night - or face the prospect of being sent home early from the States.
Clarke's Reaction
When Clarke was asked about the double penalty claim he said: "Everyone in the flash interview area was asking me about the Scott McTominay one and that’s the only one I didn’t watch back because I don’t get much time before I come out and speak to you guys.
"I thought the John McGinn one was 50-50. Some would give it and I think if the referee had then it wouldn’t have been overturned by VAR. So I can only speak on that one.
"But I was a little bit 50-50 as well when Che Adams was brought down by the last man with a chance to go through. He would have had the chance to go through one on one with the goalkeeper but he gets brought down.
"Again, the referee chooses yellow and VAR backs the referee but listen, there’s nothing we can do about that."
Match Analysis
Scotland got off to a nightmarish start, conceding an opening goal after just 70 seconds when Grant Hanley was guilty of allowing dangerman Ismael Saibari to slam home past Angus Gunn.
Asked what he was thinking at that stage Clarke answered: "‘I wish we could start again! That would have been the first thing.
"We lost a poor goal because we tried to step up. You've got to track the runners early in the game because that’s when they are full of energy and invention.
"Yeah, we didn't defend it well. That's why we went one-nil down.
"But I thought we picked ourselves up in the first half to be fair.
"OK, it maybe took us ten minutes to get back into the game because obviously when you suffer a set-back like that weaker teams would have crumbled against that quality of opposition.
"But we got ourselves back in the game and started moving the ball about a little bit better.
"And I thought in the second part of the first half, after the hydration break, we were good. We built good momentum going into half time and in the second half we had a right go.
"I’m proud of the players but obviously they are all devastated and disappointed that we didn’t get the result that we wanted to carry on in this tournament for as long as we can."
Looking Ahead
The national boss admits his players will need time to get over the crushing sense of disappointment before turning their attention to the Brazilians.
He said: "First of all you have to let the players suffer a little bit over the next 48 hours because that’s what they will do. They don’t like losing against anybody.
"So we’ll rest, recover and get ready to go again but the games don’t get much easier."
