- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,269,216
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
FOXBOROUGH — It’s hard to tell sometimes when professional athletes claim they’re ignoring social media or outside noise if they are actually doing that or just saying so.
But when a reporter asked Scotland captain Andy Robertson about an honor from his old neighborhood his face lit up with unmistakable and unfakeable surprise.
For the length of Scotland’s run in the World Cup, East Renfrewshire, the Glasgow council area where he grew up, will be renamed “East Robbo-shire." A ceremony was held at Robertson’s grammar school to mark the event. The press conference question marked the first he’d heard of it.
“Is it?! I didn’t know that,” he said beaming a smile combining delight and nostalgia. “That’s a huge part of my life. That’s where I learned how to play football and learned a lot about life as well.”
The love between the Scotland national team and the proud country in the north of Britain that it represents is intense.
When the draw revealed that Scotland would be coming to Boston, the universal reaction in Massachusetts was excitement. The Tartan Army, Scotland’s kilt-wearing, bagpipe-playing fan base, is known throughout the world. Everywhere they go, they make friends, charm everyone with their accents, boost the local pub economy and make whatever city they’re in, at least temporarily, a little more fun.
This is a fanbase that, upon learning their first opponent, rallied to raise money to provide over 900,000 meals so far for impoverished children in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
The fans’ reputation on the world stage is well earned. But the actual Scotland team? It’s been 28 years since they had a chance to add to their international legacy. Scotland hadn’t been to the World Cup since 1998 before qualifying this year. Other than 43-year-old graybeard goalkeeper Craig Gordon, no Scottish player was older than 6 when that happened. So just being among the 48 teams playing in North America this month is worth celebrating.
“Playing for your country and to do it at a World Cup is a dream come true for all of us. It’s been something we’ve been working so hard for as a country for 28 years,” Robertson said. “I’m just so proud and happy that this group of lads is the one to be able to do it.”
It wasn’t easy. Against Denmark in November they were tied at 90 minutes, but they stunned Denmark with two goals in extra time.
“If you look at the Denmark game, you’re not going to get any more high pressure than that,” Robertson said. “We scored unbelievable goals and probably gave 52,000 people the best night of their lives.”
But he wants to be a launching pad. Robertson, a long-time Liverpool back who is set to transfer to Tottenham, said as special as it is to be in the World Cup, they don’t want their greatest accomplishment to be arriving. While Scotland fans have never made it out of the group stage before, Robertson said it’s safe for their fans to believe that this will be their time.
“I believe we’ve gained the trust of the nation and we deserve that trust based on the games we’ve produced,” he said. “We know we’ve got the best fan base in the world. We know how long they’ve been waiting for this moment as well. It’s up to us to try to give them a good time.”
He paused, perhaps picturing those fans, and smiled.
“They’ll probably have a good time regardless. But it’s up to us to give them a better time. ... We know we’ve been able to connect the country and get the country excited. It’s up to us to keep it that way.
“We just hope that after this World Cup, the buzz is still there,” he added, “and we can put things in place for the next generation coming through so hopefully it won’t be another 28 years.”
Scotland will face Haiti on Saturday and Morocco on Friday in Foxborough, before traveling to Miami to close group-stage play against Brazil on June 24. The top two teams from each of the 12 four-team groups are guaranteed a spot in the round of 32 and eight third place teams will also advance.
Winning on Friday night would put Scotland in great shape to reach the knockout stages and extend their run — and the existence of East Robbo-shire — a little longer.
More World Cup 2026 Coverage
- World Cup 2026: U.S. gets dominant win, Brazil-Morocco on deck
- On home soil with a global audience, the U.S. opened the World Cup with a brilliant performance
- World Cup 2026: USA coach updates Christian Pulisic’s status after star’s early exit
- World Cup 2026: Americans open with dominant win over Paraguay
Read the original article on MassLive. Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Continue reading...
