Four months had passed since the mayhem of Denmark. The glorious chaos of that night in November still echoed through the air as close to 50,000 souls made their way to Mount Florida and started reminiscing.
The events of that match are now immortalised. A giant mural overlooking Lesser Hampden depicts Scott McTominay’s stunning overhead kick which set Scotland on their way to victory and, ultimately, the World Cup.
Inside the stadium, on the walls of Hampden itself, there are picture of Kenny McLean taking dead aim and unleashing from the halfway line.
These are moments which are now etched into Tartan Army folklore. As Flower of Scotland rang out in the moments before kick-off, it felt like one last, belated, rumbustious roar of celebration.
Scotland star Scott McTominay is denied by Japan goalkeeper Suzuki
But the atmosphere inside Hampden soon fell flat. The crowd became subdued and disinterested. Anyone prone to bouts of narcolepsy would have been in danger of nodding off.
The first half, in particular, was a total non-event. The main talking point actually centred around the colour of Scotland’s new kit.
Salmon? Pink? A subtle dash of orange? It was certainly quite striking. A new release with retro adidas branding, it will no doubt fly off the shelves in the build-up to the World Cup.
At the main steps outside the front of Hampden on Saturday afternoon, one Japanese fellow was wearing the new kit along with a kilt. Selfies abounded as fans from both sides mingled in good spirits.
The problem for Scotland was that, unlike their fetching new jersey, their performance on the pitch was incredibly dull.
By the time we had reached 40 minutes, the Scots had touched the ball once inside the Japan penalty box. The game just lacked any sort of edge whatsoever.
Steve Clarke looks on as Scotland toil to impress in their World Cup warm up
The Nations League gets a bad rep at times. Unfairly so. It has undeniably been a good thing for Scotland, and it also spares us from having to suffer these drab friendlies anywhere near as often.
In fairness, we have been spoilt this season. Both in terms of the domestic game as well as the national team, the games have invariably been high-stakes affairs with an abundance of talking points.
For the first time in a generation, we have a three-way title race. There have been all kinds of crazy stories. Jeopardy has lurked around the corner at every turn.
With the quickfire nature of the qualifiers, Clarke’s side also existed in a cut-throat environment. Fans were engrossed in their efforts to reach a first World Cup finals in 28 years, a remit they duly fulfilled.
This was a snoozefest in comparison to all of that. So disengaged were they with Scotland’s performance that large sections of supporters started heading for the exit with 10 minutes still to play.
They were probably glad they did, given that Japan took the lead on 83 minutes. Ultimately, this was a night that zapped so much of the feelgood factor around Scotland.
Clarke’s side were utterly abysmal. There’s no sugarcoating that. Both he and Andy Robertson spoke on Friday about wanting to build momentum across these warm-up friendlies.
Junya Ito celebrates after scoring the winning goal for Japan at Hampden
But this felt eerily similar to the 1-0 friendly defeat to Northern Ireland here two years ago, with that game also coming three months out from the main event of Euro 2024.
Scotland were booed off that night — and there was once again a smattering of boos when the referee finally blew the whistle to put them out of their misery.
In fairness, Japan are a far better side than Northern Ireland. The regularly qualify for World Cups and have reached the knockout stages in the last couple editions of the tournament.
But the paucity of what Scotland served up was alarming. The only chances they had fell to McTominay and George Hirst in the second half.
It was a performance with very few redeeming qualities. Of all the fringe players handed an opportunity by Clarke, none of them did anything to improve their chances of being on the plane to America.
Nathan Patterson looked rusty at right-back, which was to be expected given his lack of game time at club level with Everton.
Tommy Conway was deployed out on the left, in keeping with where he has been playing for Middlesbrough in the Championship. But he offered very little.
Lyndon Dykes was utterly anonymous up front for the hour he spent on the pitch. The ball too often bounced off him and he offered nothing in the way of hold-up play.
That Dykes is extremely limited is beyond question. In terms of the other options available to Clarke up front, Che Adams simply doesn’t score enough goals.
The door is surely ajar for Lawrence Shankland, particular given what he could yet achieve over these final two months of the season.
Scott McTominay has an attempt on goal at Hampden but Scotland offered little in attack
If Shankland can finish the campaign by lifting the league title as the captain of Hearts, he has to start for Scotland in that opening game against Haiti in Boston.
Of all the forward options Clarke has at his disposal, it it is Shankland who remains the best bet for a goal. He offers the greatest threat at the top end of the pitch.
This performance only served to reaffirm that. Shankland’s World Cup credentials were enhanced — and he wasn’t anywhere near the pitch.
Clarke has a lot to ponder as he and his players head down to take on the Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on Tuesday night.
Scotland can’t limp towards the World Cup, which is exactly happened with the Euros two years ago. The Northern Ireland game set the tone for that.
A win on Tuesday would certainly lift spirits. But as the fans made their way out of Hampden on Saturday night, you could excuse a few of them for wishing Scotland had been involved in those pesky play-offs after all.
At least those games were worth watching.
