Scotland’s World Cup dreams remain alive despite a narrow defeat to Morocco last night at the Boston Stadium in Foxborough. 

Steve Clarke made three changes from the side that defeated Haiti 1-0 on Saturday, with Kieran Tierney, Ryan Christie and Nathan Patterson coming in for Aaron Hickey, Ben Gannon-Doak and Lawrence Shankland. 

Scotland also switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Christie anchoring the midfield alongside Lewis Ferguson, and Tierney in an advanced left midfield role. 

The Scotland supporters had made their voices heard pre-match with another spine-tingling edition of “Flower of Scotland” but the fans were left stunned moments later as Morocco took the lead inside 70 seconds. 

The dangerous Ismael Saibari raced onto a precise ball from Brahim Diaz before unleashing a powerful shot into the top corner, past Angus Gunn. 

The Scotland players appealed for offside but VAR showed that Saibari had timed his run to perfection. 

The African’s dominated the first half and created a number of chances but were unable to add to their lead. 

Scotland started the second half well and had a shout for a penalty when John McGinn appeared to be felled in the area by El Aynaoui but the referee was unmoved. 

Scotland were left frustrated once again as they game ticked into the last ten minutes, with Scott McTominay going down in the box under a challenge but once again the referee waved play on. 

McTominay almost found a leveller with ten minutes remaining as he drove powerfully into the box before unleashing a low shot that was deflected into the side netting. 

In the end Scotland were unable to force an equaliser, but the narrow defeat means that Scotland are very much in with a shout of qualification going into our final Group C match against Brazil in Miami. 

Scotland will return to the team base in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday, before flying to Miami on Monday ahead of Wednesday’s final group match against Brazil. 

Scotland: Gunn, Patterson, Hendry, Hanley, Robertson, Ferguson, Christie, McGinn, McTominay, Tierney, Adams 

Unused Substitutes: Curtis, Dykes, Fletcher, Gannon-Doak, Gordon, Hickey, Hirst, Hyam, Kelly, McKenna, McLean, Ralston, Shankland, Souttar, Stewart 

Morocco: Bounou, Hakimi, Diop, Riad, Mazraoui, El Aynaoui, Bouaddi, Diaz, Ounahi, El Khannouss, Saibari 

Unused substitutes: Amaimouni-Echghouyab, Amrabat, Belammari, El Kaabi, El Mourabet, El Ouahdi, Halhal, El Kajoui, Rahimi, Saadane, Salah-Eddine, Sbai, Tagnaouti, Talbi, Yassine