John McGinn says Scotland need to be braver against Brazil after the 1-0 loss to Morocco. He also believes the response was there in the second half, and that a point in Scotland vs Brazil would all but secure a first-ever place in the knockout stages.

McGinn's message after Morocco

"They (Morocco) are filled with elite players, but we've got some elite players in there as well, so we need to start showing more of our personality, but we've got to be proud of how we reacted," McGinn told independent.co.uk. It is a fair read of where Scotland are. They lost to Morocco, but McGinn says they did not fold.

"We could have folded, but in the second half we showed a lot more character and intent and we could have easily on another day drawn that game or even won," he said. That is the version Scotland will want to carry into Miami, especially with the chance to put themselves in position for the knockout rounds.

The numbers fit the mood. Scotland's tournament form is listed as L-W, McGinn has a 7.05 aggregate rating across his two World Cup appearances, and he has already scored once in those two games. Brazil arrive on W-D, so the gap is not just about reputation, it is about whether Scotland can match the level they showed after the break against Morocco.

The Brazil test and the Neymar factor

McGinn's point is not really about solving Brazil by force. It is about playing with more personality than Scotland managed for spells against Morocco, then trusting the response if the game gets tight. That is the more convincing reading of his comments than any talk of caution.

There is also a separate edge to the Brazil build-up. J. Hendry said he is comfortable coming up against Neymar, having faced him twice in the Champions League when Neymar was at Paris Saint-Germain. BBC said Neymar has 79 goals in 128 appearances for Brazil and Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed he is fit to play against Scotland.

Hendry's view is blunt enough: "You need to concentrate throughout the game playing against these calibre of players because, the second you switch off, they can punish you." Scotland do not need a perfect match. They need a sharper one than the first half against Morocco, and McGinn has made that plain before a game that could carry them through.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →