John McGinn has urged his Scotland teammates to be more positive and have no regrets after securing a narrow but crucial victory over Haiti in their World Cup opener. The Aston Villa midfielder scored the only goal of the game as Scotland claimed their first World Cup win since 1990.
Nervy victory in Boston
It was a tense affair in Boston as the Scots played in football's biggest tournament for the first time since 1998. McGinn's 28th-minute goal proved decisive, and Steve Clarke's men held on for three points that put them in a strong position to reach the knockout stages.
McGinn admitted the performance was not perfect but stressed the importance of the result. 'These opportunities don't come around too often,' he said. 'We've said before at major tournaments, did we bring our best? Did we leave the tournament saying we could have done more? That's what I tried to bring to the game tonight. Sometimes things didn't come off but I promised myself I would be positive and try things.'
Room for improvement
The Scotland captain acknowledged the team can improve significantly. 'The good thing for us is we've got more gears to go up. The crucial thing tonight was keeping a clean sheet against a dangerous Haiti side.'
Manager Steve Clarke was delighted with the resilience shown. 'I just said to Andy Robertson, it's about time we won a game in the group stage! We probably put the supporters through it a bit. Everyone said must-win game, and we won it.'
Goalkeeper Angus Gunn echoed the need for improvement. 'It was difficult. We definitely won't be happy when we look back at it. We dropped too deep at times. But it's three points at the World Cup. When the full-time whistle went, I was absolutely buzzing.'
Scotland sit top of Group C after Morocco drew 1-1 with Brazil. Next up for Clarke's side is Morocco on Friday, followed by Brazil on June 24.
