Foxborough, June 19 (IANS) Scotland captain Andy Robertson declared that players and coaching staff have not “shied away” from what is at stake as the nation is aiming to qualify for the FIFA World Cup knockout stage for the first time when they take on Morocco at Boston Stadium on Saturday (IST).

Eight Scottish squads have previously travelled to the FIFA World Cup with big dreams of making deep runs, only to be eliminated in the group stage. Victory over Morocco on Saturday, however, will ensure a place in the knockouts for the Scots, who go into the game top of Group C after a 1-0 opening-game win over Haiti.

“We want to be the first team to be able to qualify for the knockouts for our country. We’re now playing against one of the best teams in the world, but we believe we can make any game difficult. If we can do that and put in our best performance, then I believe we can get what we want and hopefully be the ones that achieve that history,” Robertson said in a pre-match presser.

Morocco are sixth in the FIFA world ranking, 31 places above Scotland. They also have recent experience of success on the global stage, having finished fourth at the 2022 World Cup.

“We know they’re (Morocco) a fantastic team, and they’ve got threats all over the park. They did so well in the last World Cup. They were a credit to the whole of Africa, never mind Morocco. Obviously, they’ve done really well in the recent African Cup of Nations, too.

“We believe in ourselves. I don’t think we would be here if we didn’t. We had to believe at times in the qualifying campaign that we could do it, when maybe people didn’t think we could. We’ve got to focus on our performance. Our aim is to win the game; their aim is to win the game. Hopefully we’re the ones smiling come full-time,” he added.

–IANS

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