Celtic fans will take few positives from Scotland's likely exit from the World Cup at the hands of Brazil, but there was one. The Tartan Army suffered a bruising 3-0 defeat at the hands of the five-time World Cup champions in Miami, and it leaves them needing a miracle to remain in North America this summer.
Scotland likely needed a narrow defeat at a minimum to preserve hopes of progressing as one of the eight-best third-place teams, but the heavy defeat means they are now up against it.
It remains possible that four other teams pick up less than three points, which would send Scotland through, but at time of writing, the team in third place in five other groups already have three points or more, which shows the scale of the favour Steve Clarke's men are asking for.
At the end of Scotland's game, the Tartan Army were sixth in the rankings for the best third-placed teams, and theirs was only the second group to conclude, leaving 10 groups still to play.
But hope remains, and hope we shall.
Tierney return a big plus
Celtic star Kieran Tierney limped off during Scotland's defeat to Morocco, and it was quickly confirmed afterwards that he was suffering from cramp.
That allayed fears over another muscular injury for a player who has struggled aplenty with such injuries in the past, but Tierney coming off the bench as early as the start of the second half will have been a welcome sight for Hoops fans ahead of pre-season, which will start later for the World Cup stars, whenever they return.
An even greater welcome sight was Tierney impressing after coming off the bench. The Hoops star was criticised by some for his lack of impact against Morocco while playing on the left-wing, and he wasn't helped by Ben Gannon-Doak coming on and impressing in his place.
Gannon-Doak impressed again against Brazil but so did Tierney after coming on for Andy Robertson, likely for an injury, in his more natural position. Tierney got forward and delivered a number of good crosses, and he also drew a foul from Danilo to win a free-kick in a good position at one point. He also created a chance for Lawrence Shankland in the 72nd minute with another good cross from close to the byline.
A much-needed bounceback display from Tierney.
Defensive disaster undoes Scotland
Brazil were very good in this game, make no mistake, but Scotland contributed to their own undoing. A huge mistake from Scott McKenna saw the scoring opened, and Jack Hendry was lucky to be bailed out by a slight foul, or it would have been two due to an equally poor mistake. However, it must be said that it was a foul upon review.
The second goal saw Vinicius Jr score again with some nice movement, but Nathan Patterson was lost too easily at the far post, and Scotland just couldn't clear the ball in the build-up. Someone just needed to put their foot through it.
The third goal was a brilliantly worked goal, and to reiterate, Brazil were excellent, and playing like this, they were always going to be hard to contain. But if Scotland were going to get a result here, they needed to take care of their own business and make Brazil work for it. They did not do the former, and while they pushed hard late on, they did not do enough defensively in South Florida.
As a side note, Anthony Ralston also got a game in this one, coming on in the 81st minute.
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