Steven Naismith: Scotland will not be ‘spooked’ by Brazil
The two teams go head to head in their final World Cup Group C match with qualification on the line.
Steven Naismith insists Scotland will not be cowed by the yellow jerseys of World Cup record winners Brazil on Wednesday night.
After a 1-0 win over Haiti and a 1-0 defeat by Morocco, both at the Boston stadium, the Tartan Army are making their way to Miami for their final Group C fixture.
One point against the five-times winners of the tournament and the country most associated with the biggest football stage of all will guarantee Steve Clarke’s side a place in the last 32, with the three points already garnered against Haiti also offering the possibility of a place in the knockout stages.
Scotland have faced Brazil four times in the group stages of the World Cup, drawing 0-0 in 1974 and losing 4-1 in 1982, 1-0 in 1990 and 2-1 in 1998, but assistant head coach Naismith refuted the notion of the Scotland players being spooked by the Brazil shirts and all they represent.
“I don’t think it will, if I’m honest,” he said.
“I think nowadays so many of the players are playing against these type of players.
“They’re used to playing against them, some of them are team-mates as well so I don’t think that ‘it’s Brazil’ is going to spook any of our players.”
However the former Scotland striker has huge respect for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, who began their Group C campaign with a 1-1 draw against Morocco and a 3-0 win over Haiti.
He said: “It’s a squad that’s different to what we grew up watching because every star was a ready-made star at that time.
“I think this squad now you’ve still got players who are progressing in their careers, (Matheus) Cunha for instance has made the big move to Man United and you’ve seen how big a threat he is.
“And they’ve got players that are probably at the start at that cycle, but ultimately the potential and the attributes they have are world-class.
“I think Brazil are a special country in terms of the way they play football, the morals of the way to play football.
“That hasn’t changed, whether it’s this squad or squads we’ve all grown up watching.
“They have got different threats. They’ve got Igor Thiago as a striker, a target man that’s happy take it in and that’s definitely not what you used to think of Ronaldo and Rivaldo and these guys, so they have got threats but we do think we can hurt them.”