Scotland’s best shot at World Cup history – and the nagging fear that stalks fans

Steve Clarke is ready to make the most important speech of his managerial life, a speech that a succession of Scotland managers over the last 28 largely painful years would have given anything to make.

What for so long had seemed like a pipe dream - as attainable as a lottery win - is now a reality staring Scotland in the face. After missing out on six World Cups in a row, and maybe surrendering to fatalism along the way, game day is upon us here in the United States.

We can play these games forever - the old prime ministers and presidents when Scotland were last at a World Cup, the things that are commonplace now but were not invented then, the music that was in vogue, the simplicity of the way the media was back then compared to the revolution that has happened since.

All of that stuff reflects the passage of time - more than 10,000 days - and the way things have changed. It's been a relative eternity. Sometimes, to the Tartan Army, it must have felt that days like these would never come again.

We know that Clarke keeps his emotions in check most of the time, but we also know that he can be moving when he wants to be, as he was when addressing his players before the momentous Denmark game at Hampden in November, the night that electrified a nation.

All of the work is done now, all of the analysis of Haiti, all of the match strategy and the mechanisms to cope with the heat and humidity are firmly in place.

Clarke probably doesn't need to talk to the soul of these players anymore, because none of them need any reminding of what they're playing for here.

That's not to say that Clarke won't go there. They are the lucky ones - the players chosen to start and the cavalry that will come off the bench.

The history of Scottish football is loaded with really good and truly great players who have never had the privilege of playing at a World Cup.

To go back in time - John Greig, Tommy Gemmell, Billy McNeill, Ron Yeats. None of them got this far. Bobby Murdoch, Jim Baxter, Bertie Auld, Stevie Chalmers the same. Jimmy Johnstone made a World Cup squad but never played.

That list is in no way exhaustive. It's just a snapshot of the legends who didn't get to do what Clarke's men are about to do.

From the more recent crop, there's James McFadden and Scott Brown, Darren Fletcher and Barry Ferguson, Kenny Miller and Callum McGregor. You could go on and on citing the ones who missed out, sometimes narrowly, sometimes overwhelmingly and, at times, embarrassingly.

Best look forward, though. Because forward is a happy place, for now.

In Charlotte this week, Scotland have been relaxed but focused, maybe a little more chilled than they were this time two years ago when heading into an ill-fated Euros campaign pockmarked by negativity and failure on the pitch.

Clarke says he's learned the lessons of the last two Euros and is determined to enjoy this tournament. If you ask him about regret, he'll tell you about those six games, three goals (one an own goal and another a deflection) and no wins across two campaigns. They never really fired a shot in either of them.

Captain Andy Robertson referenced this on Friday. If they're true to their mantra then they're giving this a rattle and if they die in the group stage as every one of their seven predecessors have done at World Cups then they won't die wondering about what might have been had they been more brave.

Lady Luck has been by Scotland's side on their path to America, poor performances in qualifying against Belarus and Greece at home still ending up as wins. There was a freakish nature to some of it.

They beat themselves up over both of those performances - "jobby" was midfielder John McGinn's description and no bard could have come up with a better description.

They then went to Greece last November and lost. Only a miracle in Copenhagen - where Belarus, under siege for practically 90 minutes, somehow managed to draw 2-2 - kept their hopes of automatic qualification alive.

Sitting with McFadden that evening in Athens, he said he was certain that Scotland would beat Denmark the following week and go through. He was utterly unshakeable in his view.

Why? Fate, he replied. It just felt destined to happen. And he was right.

But the way it happened? If Belarus' shock draw with Denmark was weird then the manner of Scotland's victory - and the quality of the goals scored - was other worldly.

An overhead kick from Scott McTominay, a Lewis Ferguson corner that was going in until Lawrence Shankland helped it on its way, a curler to beat all curlers from Kieran Tierney and then a fourth from the other end of the earth - or the halfway line to be precise - from Kenny McLean.

It was the perfect night, a night that further reinforced the bond between these players, which is genuinely tight. That's always said, but this group is extremely close, a club side in national team colours, a band of brothers who have each other's back.

There was a collective swoon when news came through on Thursday…