Scotland’s wild World Cup moment was built by collective will and individual brilliance | Ewan Murray

It was not a time for calm reflection. Kenny McLean had just lobbed Kasper Schmeichel from the halfway line. Limbs. Unbridled, unfiltered joy. On one outrageous Hampden Park night McLean, Kieran Tierney and Scott McTominay relegated Archie Gemmill’s stupendous solo effort against the Netherlands in 1978 to merely the fourth best Scotland goal of all time. Zinedine Zidane’s volley for Real Madrid in Hampden’s Champions League final of 2002? A mere tap-in by comparison. What was produced by McTominay, Tierney and McLean will live long in the memories of the children and grandchildren of anybody who was in attendance on Tuesday night. They call McLean “the Mayor of Norwich”. He may as well now be the mayor of Nairn, North Berwick and Newtongrange. Related: Tierney and McLean send Scotland to World Cup with thrilling win against Denmark Some argue international football has lost relevance amid club obsessions and the attached corporate boom. Scotland have proved precisely the opposite. The strength of feeling linked to their achievement has been so incredibly striking. Scotland cares deeply and passionately about its football team. The country is proud to be afforded the status a World Cup will bring. The 2026 version will be enriched by Scottish involvement; certainly off the field if not on it. That Scotland scored four goals against Denmark, let alone three of such remarkable quality, was so brilliantly baffling that it summed up their qualifying campaign. Having endured a wait since 1998 to return to international football’s top table, the Scots determined simplicity was overrated. Steve Clarke has no cause to care about how it was done. He is now the country’s finest manager, courtesy of three tournament places in four attempts. Only a playoff has denied Clarke a clean sweep. The stoical, shy 62-year-old has made international headway at a time when there was legitimate questioning of the resource at his disposal. Scotland saw off Denmark with a 42-year-old goalkeeper, Craig Gordon, who is not even the first choice at his club. It is not being at all disrespectful to point out a raft of even mediocre national sides would stick with their own options at centre-back or centre-forward rather than trade with Clarke. This is instead a team built on a mighty spirit, a ferocious work ethic that should typify what Scotland stands for and a refusal to accept being beaten. Had Scotland’s class of 2025 failed to qualify for the World Cup, shoulders would have been shrugged. After all, that is what all Scotland teams have done for close to three decades. Instead, this group was utterly adamant they would break the mould. Scotland entered qualifying with rumblings of discontent in the background. Heavy home losses to Greece and Iceland saw to that. Yet the start was positive, a fine showing in the scoreless draw with the Danes in Copenhagen preceding the straightforward success over Belarus. From there it got messy. Scotland were unconvincing when defeating Greece in Glasgow and downright awful when squeezing past Belarus. Clarke lost his temper through fear his players were going to waste a golden chance. Saturday evening in Athens was perhaps the weirdest occasion in Scotland’s international history. They were abject and three goals down before word filtered through that Belarus were giving Denmark a headache to match the sickness bug that hampered Brian Riemer’s team. The Scots roared back, to the point where they were unfortunate not to snatch a draw. That Belarus earned precisely that, against all expectation, placed Scottish destiny back in their own hands. There is a sense, and not a particularly daft one, that Greece were actually the best team in Group C. Scotland, Denmark and Hampden provided a sporting spectacle to turn heads way beyond football. Denmark will feel, and with plenty justification, that they deserved at least a draw after dominating for long spells. The visitors were undone, though, by the rashness of Rasmus Kristensen which left them with 10 men against a team who suddenly sensed opportunity. Denmark have failed to beat Scotland twice which, combined with their Belarus stumble, means they can only apportion blame to themselves. Scotland’s task was made harder by the injuries sustained by John Souttar in the warm-up and Ben Gannon-Doak inside 20 minutes. McTominay, John McGinn and Andy Robertson – Scotland’s A listers – were excellent. Clarke keeps faith with the 33-year-old McLean, a midfielder at struggling Norwich, because he trusts him implicitly. Gordon was in tears when contemplating the World Cup as the culmination of his career. Tierney, who has endured a rotten time with his fitness, was a left-back brought on to play on the right through necessity. The former Arsenal man would never have been in place to blast the Scots 3-2 ahead were he deployed in his natural position. Aaron Hickey and Lewis Ferguson have seen highly promising careers disrupted by injuries. Lawrence Shankland’s 2024-25 was nightmarish. Lyndon Dykes was distraught when damaged ankle ligaments ruled him out of Euro 2024. Grant Hanley felt the need to say sorry to Clarke for his display in Greece. “I said: ‘You don’t have to apologise to me, ever, for how you play,” Clarke explained. “I know that every time you go to the pitch you give everything, like every other player.’” The collective has done this but the individual stories are fascinating. All are now entitled to revel in what this Scotland team has delivered. Scottish humour – and fatalism – means punters are already pondering World Cup defeat to Cape Verde or Jordan. You have to go back to 1990 for the last time Scotland won a game in the tournament. At the same World Cup, Costa Rica embarrassed Andy Roxburgh’s team. Hopes and fears for 2026 can be placed on hold. Now is the time to recognise a historic moment. And, of course, the sensational manner in which it was confirmed.