Although the World Cup is now only a few days away, it’s the NBA Finals which have dominated the sports agenda in America over recent days.
On Friday night, the New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-104 to take a 2-0 lead in the series as they chase a first championship in 53 years.
Out in New Jersey, about 10 miles or so from the heart of the Big Apple, it looked at one point like Scotland might rack up a similar sort of scoreline in this demolition of Bolivia.
Where Scotland limped into the Euros in Germany two years ago with no form to speak of, they will now be brimming with confidence heading into their World Cup opener against Haiti in Boston next weekend.
Over the course of Steve Clarke’s seven years in charge, he has deployed various different systems throughout his tenure.
The 3-5-2 served him well over those first few years. Then it morphed into more of a 3-4-2-1 with a box midfield.
Shankland and Gannon-Doak have made themselves undroppable for the clash with Haiti
Then Ben Gannon-Doak burst on to the scene and it became more of a 4-2-3-1 to accommodate the jet-heeled winger.
Now, another slight shift. Over the past week, in the two victories over Curacao and Bolivia, Clarke has gone with a pretty standard 4-4-2.
Scotland scored eight goals over those two games. The new system has suited them down to the ground, especially with how slick they have looked in attack at times.
The 4-4-2 is old-fashioned and uncomplicated. It is often viewed as an archaic formation in the modern game, and managers who use it are often branded as dinosaurs.
But, right now, it’s just the ticket for Scotland. The fact Clarke has gone with it in both of these warm-up friendlies would tend to suggest that’s exactly how we will line up against Haiti.
A midfield four of Ryan Christie on the left, Scott McTominay and John McGinn in the middle, with Gannon-Doak on the right.
Up front, it’ll be Lawrence Shankland plus AN Other. The Haiti game is pretty much must-win if Scotland have serious ambitions of reaching the knockout stages.
The 4-4-2 ticks all the boxes for that game. It gets pretty much all of our best players on the pitch and, most importantly, it is getting the best out of Shankland.
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Shankland had a terrific season with Hearts playing in a similar system alongside Claudio Braga. It is either Che Adams or Lyndon Dykes who will fulfil the Braga role for Scotland.
Clarke could well revert to three at the back in the matches against Morocco and Brazil, given that Scotland will almost certainly see less of the ball. But, against Haiti, attack will be the order of the day.
It was difficult to gauge Bolivia’s performance levels or, indeed, their general interest in the fixture given that it was little more than a post-season friendly from their point of view.
The South Americans, ranked 77th in the world, will not feature in the World Cup after losing a play-off to Iraq a couple of months ago.
They were miles off the pace, especially in that first half as Scotland ran riot. But that should not diminish just how slick Clarke’s side looked on what was an excellent afternoon’s work in New Jersey.
