Steven Naismith last night backed Scotland not to get spooked by the sight of Brazil.
Steve Clarke’s side travel to Miami today ahead of Wednesday’s final Group C match against the five-time world champions.
No side in Dark Blue has beaten the Samba stars in 10 attempts, with four of those coming at the greatest show on earth.
Carlo Ancelotti is preparing to unleash Neymar for the first time this summer, with the superstar winger set to join a frightening array of talents. But assistant manager Naismith believes there’s not a chance that Clarke’s players will feel defeated the minute they see the famous yellow jerseys.
‘I don’t think it will, to be honest,’ he stated. ‘These days, so many of the players are coming up against these type of players, or are team-mates with them, that they’re used to them.
‘I don’t think Brazil will spook our players at all.’
Jack Hendry, Andy Robertson and Grant Hanley are looking to make history against Brazil
Steven Naismith and Steve Clarke know Scotland must make improvements in the final third
Having beaten Haiti and lost to Morocco, Clarke’s players are sitting on three points and a zero goal difference ahead of their final match.
With eight of the 12 best third-placed teams also set to progress to the round of 32, there is every chance that Scotland could qualify with a narrow defeat.
Adamant that it would be dangerous to consider that an acceptable outcome before a ball is kicked, Naismith insists Scotland must aim for at least the point which would remove all doubt.
‘Going into the game you think of everything,’ said Naismith. ‘There are plenty games to come before ours, but it’s far too high a risk to go into a game thinking about things that are out of your hands. That’s basically a back-up plan if things don’t go well.
‘Our aim going in there is definitely to get something from the game. We’ve had some pretty big results against the level of quality we’ll come up against in Brazil.
‘In and out of possession, we need to be good.’
Scotland didn’t manage a single shot on target against Morocco in Boston, a statistic that saw Clarke criticised in some quarters for being overly cautious.
Naismith believes the game-plan was sound but acknowledged that the side must carry more of an attacking threat in Florida.
‘We probably need to play more forward passes,’ he said. ‘And in any game at the World Cup, you’re going to need to be better in possession.
‘Morocco are a great team who are going to cause anyone problems, but in the main our defensive display was good and it’ll need to be similar on Wednesday because we’re up against another team with world-class players, many of whom have similar traits to the Moroccans.
‘Bolivia was good. Denmark was good. So, it’s not as if we can’t get shots on target, but we definitely need to decide in the final third whether we’re going to have a shot or have a final action that makes the other team defend.
‘So far, we’ve maybe got into that situation and maybe lost possession, or the ball’s gone out for a goal kick. We’re getting into the final third, it’s just that final decision.
‘Everyone saw we got into the final third a lot against Morocco, but did we test the goalie enough? Probably not.’
Asked if he felt the side were brave enough in the second game to merit taking something, Naismith said: ‘Look, at the tournament so far. There are no easy games.
‘We managed to get a good result against Haiti then the early goal against Morocco really set us back, but we’re going into the last game knowing what we need to do.
Neymar (left) and Vinicius Jr could lead Brazil’s attack in Florida on Wednesday night
‘I’ll repeat what I said last week — this would be the first squad to get through the group. I think they’d deserve to do it. I think we’ve got the players to do it. And I think we have the manager to do it.
‘The magnitude of this game as is great as some of the players will ever have played in.’
Meanwhile, defender Jack Hendry insists he won’t be fazed by the prospect of going up against Neymar, as the superstar prepares to make his first appearance of the tournament.
‘No problem,’ he said of the prospect. ‘Obviously he was out in the league I was in (Saudi), so I’m comfortable going up against Neymar.
‘I’ll look forward to it. It should be a really good battle if he plays.
‘He got injured in Saudi, he did his ACL which was unfortunate. I’d have liked to play against him more. But I played against him twice in the Champions League (for Brugge) when he was at PSG — that was a good test.’
