Andy Robertson claimed that Scotland’s win over Haiti felt like a big step towards the creation of history.
Coming courtesy of John McGinn’s deflected first-half goal, the victory over the men from the Caribbean island was the national team’s first at a World Cup since beating Sweden at Italia ’90.
The gritty victory sees Steve Clarke’s side lead Group C after the first round of games ahead of Friday’s clash with Morocco in Boston and the following Wednesday’s match with Brazil in Miami.
And while skipper Robertson concedes that the display wasn’t all it might have been, he believes picking up three points when the expectations were so big will elevate the belief among the squad.
‘We got the result and togetherness that we wanted,’ he said.
‘This was the game people expected us to win. Let’s be honest, people back in Scotland didn’t really know anything about Haiti.
John McGinn celebrates scoring the goal that earned Scotland a 1-0 victory over Haiti
Andy Robertson says winning their opener puts Scotland a step closer to the knockout stage
Young Scotland winger Ben Gannon-Doak is described by Robertson as ‘an incredible talent’
‘We’d done our homework and knew it would be difficult. We knew they’d be difficult with counter-attacks because they’re really strong and quick.
‘But I thought we dealt with it really well. We defended so well.
‘Could we have been better on the ball? Yeah. Could we maybe have defended higher up the pitch at times? Maybe.
‘But when everyone in the country expects you to win, you have to get credit when you do win.
‘We’re delighted. It’s three points and a big step towards what we want to achieve.’
The victory was Scotland’s first in the opening game of a World Cup since Jock Stein’s team beat New Zealand 5-2 in Malaga in 1982.
The current crop now know that a point against Morocco or Brazil will be good enough to see them make the last 32 by at least finishing as one of the eight best third-placed teams from the 12 groups.
And although Robertson is braced for a more difficult challenge against two nations who are among the top 10 in the world, he takes encouragement from the fact that this side has often pulled off big results as an underdog.
‘Could the next two games maybe suit us better with less expectation? Time will tell,’ he added.
‘They’re two fantastic teams, so it’s obviously going to be difficult.
‘But we’ve done pretty well against the bigger nations, so we have to believe in ourselves.
‘We’re now on three points. What we need to go through, we don’t know yet.
‘But we’ve certainly made a big step today. None of the lads are shying away from it – we want to be the first Scotland team to make history.
‘That’s our determination and motivation and we’ve taken a good step towards that.’
Together with Lewis Ferguson, John McGinn and Ben Gannon-Doak, Robertson was one of the stand-out performers.
Equally as pleased that Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry made telling contributions to the clean sheet that secured the win, he said: ‘Ben was excellent, he’s such an exciting player.
‘The experienced boys are still trying to help him because at times he does things that can frustrate us, of course he does.
‘But he’s an incredible talent. He’s lightning quick, he can take a player on, he can make something happen in the game.
‘Those players are always exciting. They’re probably quite rare in Scotland.
‘He’s such a talent, a good player and such a good guy because he listens to all of us.
‘He always tries to take it on board and he was excellent against Haiti.
‘But there were others too. Hanley and Hendry at the back were outstanding. Fergie as well.
‘Defensively, the team were really strong. Sometimes we made wrong decisions with the ball, but we were all good defensively and that’s why we got the clean sheet.’
