Scotland will assess a knee injury to midfielder Billy Gilmour after he was forced off during the first half of their 4-1 win over Curacao at Hampden Park.
Steve Clarke’s men were forced to come from behind to beat 10-man Curacao, who took a surprise lead through Tahith Chong before having Jurgen Locadia sent off for an off-the-ball elbow on Aaron Hickey.
Napoli midfielder Gilmour was withdrawn shortly after that incident, with his replacement Findlay Curtis levelling matters just before half-time.
A brace from Lawrence Shankland put Scotland in command, and Ryan Christie rounded off the win with a late penalty as Clarke’s side claimed victory in their final game before they fly out to North America for the 2026 World Cup.
Scotland will board the plane to the United States on Sunday ahead of their final pre-tournament friendly against Bolivia in New Jersey next Saturday.
And they will do so seemingly with at least some concern over Gilmour’s fitness.
“We’re not too sure how bad Billy Gilmour’s injury is right now,” Clarke told BBC Scotland. “He will be assessed overnight, fingers crossed that the wee man is fine.
Clarke reveals disappointment after Scotland send-off win
Scotland will face Haiti in their first World Cup game since 1998 when they kick off their 2026 campaign in Foxborough, Massachusetts on June 13.
That game will be crucial to Scotland’s hopes of progression to the knockout rounds, with games against Morocco and Brazil also on the horizon for Clarke’s men in Group C.
Despite the win, Clarke was disappointed his side did not get to take on Curacao, set to make history as the smallest nation to play at a World Cup finals, 11 against 11 for the full 90 minutes.
“The game didn’t reflect how well Curacao actually played, the scoreline ran away from them a little bit. At 11v11, we had a little bit of work to do,” Clarke said.
“I think I would have rather had it as an 11v11 challenge, but a win is a win.
“We had to get a lot of players on the pitch just to give them a chance to play again, quite a lot of them haven’t had many minutes through the second half of the season, and I think that showed towards the start of the game.
“I said already, it will be a squad tournament, not just a starters tournament, so next week is about getting used to the climate and the heat, and then for 60/65 minutes there will be a strong side out against Bolivia.
“The players were angry with themselves for missing out on Qatar 2022 and in Germany [for the group displays at the Euros], so hopefully they can use that as fuel to make sure we give ourselves a really good chance of getting out of the group.”
