Scotland at Euro 2024: Ronaldo plan for Brazil in World Cup 1998 – BBC Sport

It will not be the World Cup opener for Scotland on Friday. It is only a European Championship curtain-raiser.

Brazil, therefore, will not be the opposition, and Paris is not the venue. Instead, it is just host nation Germany, in Munich.

There is no Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Cafu or Roberto Carlos to worry about, only Toni Kroos, Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Joshua Kimmich.

All things considered for Steve Clarke’s side then, perhaps Friday’s game will not quite hit the same heights as the glamour of opening the 1998 World Cup against the reigning champions. But, my goodness, it is not far off.

Twenty-six years on from their last major finals on foreign soil, the Scots will have a global audience watching them once again when they kick off Euro 2024 with Germany at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena.

But what – if anything – can Clarke’s current crop learn from the experience of Craig Brown’s men more than a quarter of a century ago?

Here, we revisit an iconic day in Scottish football history, told by the late Brown and members of the squad he led to France.

Brown, who died in June last year, guided the nation to a second consecutive major tournament after Euro 1996, with the Scots drawn in Group A with reigning world champions Brazil, Norway and Morocco.

Any Brazil side would pose a formidable test for any Scotland team, but this squad was extra special. Spearheaded by Inter Milan superstar Ronaldo, Brown called one of the striker’s former managers for a bit of advice.

That information formulated a Scotland plan that was predicted pre-match by Brazil icon Pele…

Craig Brown: “I spoke to Bobby Robson, who had Ronaldo at Barcelona. I asked how we stop him and he said: ‘You don’t, just don’t let him get the ball’.

“Most of his passes came from Cafu at right-back, so I told Christian Dailly: ‘If you let Cafu cross the halfway line and pass to Ronaldo, you’ll be sitting beside me on the bench’.

Pele, speaking to BBC Scotland in 1998: “Brazil, as everybody knows, have the best players in the world, but we don’t have the teamwork yet. Scotland are a team who mark very well, play defensively and on the counter-attack.

“Brazil should adjust in this game. I think the pattern of the game, the school of the Scots game, is more defensive. Brazil are schooled offensively. We will try to play our football but be careful about the counter.”

With the pre-match tactical work complete, Scotland headed for Saint-Denis decked out in kilts. That’s not where the abnormal activity ended.

The opening ceremony meant Brown’s men warmed up in a small room within the stadium, with Tom Boyd and Colin Calderwood getting physical to get hyped up, before the cool and composed Brazilians – looking immaculate and smelling fantastic, according to one former Scotland player – took to the pitch holding hands as Sean Connery, and 80,000 others, watched on.

Darren Jackson: “There are things that stick out during the game, but walking out on to the pitch pre-match was one of the best reactions I’ve ever known.

“Tom [Boyd] and Colin [Calderwood] used to punch themselves to get themselves going, really hitting themselves. It was incredible to watch.

“Colin was in another world. I always liked being last on to the pitch, I don’t know why, so I saw Colin shouting and bawling, but he turned right instead of left to go out on to the pitch.”

Jim Leighton: “We couldn’t get out for any kind of warm-up. There was a small room 22 of us had to go in. I think I just had my pants on if I remember that.

“You don’t think about how many people are in the stadium. You don’t think about how many people are watching on TV. You just go into game mode.”

John Collins: “You see the yellow strips, the guys you see on the television; Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo. World-famous names. We knew if we switched off they would cut us open.”

Paul Lambert: “We were in the tunnel and you could smell this brilliant fragrance coming over. They didn’t have a hair out of place, looked great, smelled great. And we’ve got big Jim Leighton with nae teeth.”

Craig Brown: “[Holding hands] was a routine the Brazilians had developed. That became their trademark. ‘They’ve got to hold hands to play us’, I remember telling the players.

“I tried to use that to relax the boys a bit, but they scored in four minutes.”

After warming up in underwear and catching their first whiff of the pristine Brazilians, there was a game to play.

The pre-match message of ‘keep it tight, lads’ lasted an entire four minutes, before Cesar Sampaio headed in from a corner.

But the Scots responded admirably and levelled with a John Collins penalty, only to fall to a gut-wrenching defeat when Boyd’s comical own goal resulted in an all-too-typical hard-luck story for Scotland.

Craig Brown: “I was quite worried about [getting humiliated]. At 1-0 after four minutes I thought: ‘We’re under pressure here’. I was looking for a hole in that running track to jump into because it could have been a bit of a thumping.

“You’re playing the best team in the world with the best players in the world, and in particular Ronaldo. But the players did everything we asked of them.”

Colin Hendry: “There was no hiding place. You just had to get out there and do your stuff. We got ourselves back into it and we did all right. But we got beaten by a corner kick and an own goal – that was never in the script.”

Tom Boyd: “I know we talk about it and have a wee bit of a laugh about my goal, getting the winner for Brazil, but it was still a great time.

“The only saving grace was there’s not a lot I could have done about it. Jim [Leighton] came out for the cross for the first time, I think I was standing there in shock, but it’s just the way it bounced off me.

“I was hoping somebody had pace that could go clear it off the line, but it wasn’t to be and sadly we lost the game. We did a typical Scotland – doing well against Brazil but unlucky to lose.”