NEXT Sunday, all might be forgiven.
By then Steve Clarke and his crestfallen players might have made history after all, by taking four points from two remaining Group A games – and doing just enough to become the most successful Scotland side in history.
But even if they salvage redemption here in Germany, Callum McGregor will not allow himself to forget the pain and the suffering inflicted on Friday night’s visit to the torture chamber of the Allianz Arena.
Yesterday afternoon, after Celtic’s skipper had made it back to the squad’s Bavarian basecamp here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen following that 5-1 routing by hosts Germany, those wounds were still red and raw.
So much so that McGregor’s fears this thrashing will still be remembered and held against them for decades, regardless of what might follow against Switzerland and Hungary.
And even when it was suggested that it could all be consigned to the dustbin of the nation’s memory banks in as little as seven days’ time, depending on the next two results, McGregor couldn’t quite bring himself to believe it.
He said: “None of the disappointments I have had ever really goes away. You get one opportunity in life and when it comes you want to try and grab it as much as you can.
“And when you have a disappointing day in your professional life or your personal life or whatever it is, it does stick with you.
“It is important that in 14 days’ time no one is talking about it – if we are through to the knockout stages and everyone is instead talking about the history we have created.
“But these things live with you. We are the guys who must live with that disappointment.”
It’s a mark of McGregor’s professionalism that he feels such a weight of responsibility.
He knows he can’t take this one back and it’s still eating him up inside.
It has been that way from the moment he was subbed off in the second half. And the same thoughts were haunting him all 90km back to the foot of the Alps in the early hours of Saturday morning. In almost complete silence.
McGregor said: “It was a long bus journey, for sure. Everybody was thinking the same thing. We came here to show we are a good side. That’s why it’s so sore.
“We are now the only people who can fix it. It’s about strength of character now.
“You don’t go into your shell, you don’t back away from the challenge.
“It is a big stage and it is difficult – let’s make no bones about it. But you can’t back away from that. You have to show that you belong in tournaments like this.”
McGregor wasn’t just humiliated on the pitch by the likes of Ilkay Gundogan and Toni Kroos – he was also nailed in the TV studio by former Scotland great Graeme Souness who lambasted the standard of the 31-year-old’s performance.
And that stuff stings too. Asked if he might use that criticism as a motivation heading into Wednesday night’s showdown with the Swiss, McGregor nodded: “Yes, you do. If anyone has a pop at you then you take it personally and you try to prove them wrong. So, yeah.”
But he won’t be the only one. Truth is, there was not a player in a dark blue shirt who came close to earning pass marks on Friday night.
Scotland froze under the floodlights and forgot how to play the possession-based football that underpinned their journey to these finals.
And that’s also something that has burrowed deep under McGregor’s skin.
Scotland’s midfield was heavily outnumbered and completely outclassed. All of it will have to change dramatically if this salvage mission is to be successfully accomplished.
McGregor said: “When you come to this level you must have an element of control of the ball otherwise you just spend the whole night defending.
“You are playing top players who can create moments of magic and that is why the Germans are world class.
“You have to give yourselves a chance and, when you get the ball, you have to keep it and make them chase it for a while.
“That is part of football as well – the more time you spend with the ball the less time you will have to defend.
“We have become pretty good, to be honest, at controlling bits of the game that give you a breather and let you get up the pitch.
“I don’t think we can shy away from the fact it was a poor night and that we did not do ourselves justice.
“We have to reset and go into the next two games, do what we are good at and what has got us to this stage.
“And we want to come to the end of the next two games and everyone is looking at us and going: ‘ You know what, Scotland are decent – they can play a wee bit!’
“We might get through, we might not get through. But we want to feel that we’ve given a good account of ourselves and only we can do that now.
“We have two games to get out of the group – two cup finals – that’s what the mentality has to be. We attack Wednesday now. It is a cup final and we have to win.”