First Touch ’26 - Scotland

In this World Cup Capsule, David Gass celebrates the return of a nation that helped invent modern football, exported the passing game around the globe, and produced managerial legends from Bill Shankly to Sir Alex Ferguson.

We walk through Scotland’s long, chaotic history: the first ever international match in 1872, early World Cups, and two decades of “glorious failure” where qualification heartbreak became a national art form. Then we land in the present, where Steve Clarke has led Scotland to back-to-back Euros and now a long-awaited World Cup via a wild 4–2 win over Denmark at Hampden Park—complete with a Scott McTominay bicycle kick some are already calling the greatest Scottish goal ever. With Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, John McGinn, and a new wave featuring winger Ben Doak, Scotland arrive as more than just a cult favorite. Add in the Tartan Army, one of football’s great traveling fan bases, and North America is about to learn exactly why “No Scotland, No Party” rings so true.