Scots ‘do country proud’ in Mexico

Mcleish hails experience ‘great’ as Scotland finish Americas tour with defeat

Scotland boss Alex Mcleish praised his players’ professionalism after they concluded their mini-tour of the Americas with a narrow 1-0 defeat to World Cup-bound Mexico at the Azteca Stadium.

Seven players from his makeshift and inexperienced squad had made their debuts in the 2-0 loss to Peru in Lima on Tuesday night, and two more new faces – keepers Jon Mclaughlin and his interval replacement Scott Bain – did so against the Mexicans who won through a first-half goal from Giovani Dos Santos.

The home side had several chances to increase their lead and struck woodwork twice, albeit the spirited Scots improved markedly after the break and might have sneaked a draw had Oli Mcburnie’s header not smacked the post.

“The trip has been great,” said Mcleish. “The players have been very professional.

“Normally they would be on their holidays. We would love to be going to the World Cup the same as Mexico.

“But we have played a couple of games that can help us build for the future.

“It was a very tough game for us at altitude and in these conditions. I think the players that we had out there did the country proud.

“We are trying to get better on the technical side and we have asked the players to look at their game and be brave, to make passes and receive passes.

“It’s a big part of the plan going forward.”

Mcleish did reveal an element of frustration with the attacking side of Scotland’s game.

He said: “We looked to be more of a threat, to get players forward in the box.

“I felt that we never had the best of deliveries. When we got into wide areas, we hit the first man a lot when we had good presence in the box.

“You saw when we got a good cross in the second half, Mcburnie had a good header, he was unlucky he hit the post.

“In the first half we had crosses potentially for the strength of Callum Paterson but we didn’t quite succeed.

“Both teams made changes, that can upset the rhythm of the game, but both teams did what they could to impress the fans and the coaches.”

The two matches of this Americas tour will not linger long in the minds of those with a Scottish persuasion and with so many regulars absent, and two hugely inexperienced teams fielded in both games, it is difficult for Mcleish to draw too many conclusions as he plans for the Nations League games against Albania and Israel later in the year.

The stadium, which hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals and which also witnessed Maradona’s Hand of God goal against England in the quarter-final of the ’86 tournament, took time to fill up but the excited home fans were looking for encouragement from their side before they fly out to Russia.

Mclaughlin was one of seven changes, coming into the side along with Graeme Shinnie, Jack Hendry, Johnny Russell, Mcburnie and Ryan Christie and Callum Paterson.

“

It was a very tough game for us at altitude and in these conditions. I think the players we had out theredid the country proud

Scotland were captained by 21-yearold Aberdeen defender Scott Mckenna and, ominously, were without an international goal to their name.

The home side, who had eight changes from their goalless draw against Wales, did not have to work too hard for their early goal with former Arsenal player Carlos Vela having time to lay the ball off to Dos Santos and from the edge of the box he stroked the ball low past Mclaughlin and into the far corner.

Mexico quickly got further into their stride.

Miguel Layun curled a shot against the post from the edge of the box in the 27th minute and then Mclaughlin made a save from Hirving Lozano’s longrange effort as the Scots struggled to assert themselves.

Bain came on for Mclaughlin for the start of the second half and made two saves in a minute from powerful drives, first from Lozano and then from Hector Herrera.

Moments later, though, in a rare Scotland attack, Mcburnie got on the end of a Russell cross but crashed his header off the post.

In the 55th minute, after the Scots goal had survived another close call with some desperate defending to block a Layun shot, Charlie Mulgrew, Chris Cadden and John Mcginn came on for Christie, Kenny Mclean and Paterson.

The game opened up and in a Mexico break, Lozano hammered a drive off the Scotland crossbar and the substitute Oribe Peralta had the ball in the net after Bain had parried Lozano’s header but was ruled offside.

A tiring Scotland side struggled in the final stages to contain Mexico – Mulgrew headed clear off the line – but can hold their head high with their second half showing.

Attendance: 70,993.

Scotland: Mclaughlin (Bain 45), O’donnell, Hendry, Mckenna, Shinnie, Mcgeouch, Mclean (Cadden 55), Russell, Paterson (Mulgrew 55), Christie (Mcginn 55), Mcburnie (Morgan 80). Subs not used – Murphy, Archer.

Mexico: Ochoa, Álvarez, Ayala, Salcedo (Márquez 45), Gallardo, Layún, Herrera (Fabián 58), Vela (Aquino 63), dos Santos (dos Santos 57), Lozano (Corona 73), Jiménez (Peralta 57). Subs not used – Talavera, Hernández.

Referee: Henry Bejarano.