Stay or go home? Tartan Army in limbo as Scotland awaits fate

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Selling cars & air miles conundrum – what now for Tartan Army?

Scotland fans have seen their team score once in three group gamesImage source, Getty Images
ByScott Mullen

BBC Sport Scotland in Miami
  • Published

No Scotland, no party.

But what happens to the party now?

Scotland’s World Cup progression hangs in the balance, with multiple favours needed to make it out of Group C.

Travelling fans may not know the outcome until Saturday night, so what are they going to do until then?

Supporters weren’t even back from the stadium before another nail was slammed into the Scotland World Cup coffin.

Because over in Group A, South Africa stunned South Korea to leave the Koreans third on three points but with a better goal difference than Steve Clarke’s side.

With eight third place finishers progressing to the round of 32, Scotland are seventh best with only three of the 12 groups completed.

Can Scotland hang on to reach the knockout phase for the first time?

Unlikely? Absolutely. Impossible? Err… not quite.

Fans plan next moves

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If Scotland make it through, there are three possible destinations.

A return to Boston to meet the Group E winners, Germany, on Monday, 29 June (21:30 BST).

A second route already has the opponent confirmed – Mexico in Mexico City at 02:00 BST on Wednesday, 1 July.

There is also a slim chance of facing the winner of Group I, France or Norway, at the New York/New Jersey Stadium on Tuesday, 30 June (20:00 BST).

Dave Watson, who is a presenter on the No Scotland No Party podcast, had initially shown his ambition and booked a flight home after the final.

He told BBC Scotland his plan now is to go to New York on Thursday to hang about until Scotland’s fate is decided.

“My dad’s got a flight home on Friday,” Callum from Linwood told us, “He’s away back to work, but I chucked my job and sold my car to come here, so I’m not going home now. I’ll stay and see what happens.”

Spare a thought for Alan Horsburgh, who has a bundle of conundrums to work through.

“I am going from Orlando to Reykjavik then home to Copenhagen where I live.

“I have a five-hour bus journey from Miami up to Orlando tomorrow and on that five-hour bus journey I will be looking at the eight million different permutations to try to work out if we’re going to get through and where we might play.

“I would do one of two things which is decide to get my flight home and then go home or look at options to book for my wife to fly back out.

“I can get her with air miles some really cheap flights to Boston which would be absolutely perfect, not so perfect if we end up playing in Mexico City.”

Ian Greenwell from Bathgate said: “We’re home tomorrow but we’ll be keeping an eye on the scores. If we get through, we’ll be back.”

Leslie Higgins added: “We’ll be back home in Connecticut by Saturday but we’re lucky, we’re halfway.

“If we do get through, it’ll be very difficult not to fly out, especially if it’s in Boston.

“Our whole family was in Boston, I don’t think we’d all be able to go back, the credit card had been crunched.”

How expensive is it going to be?

Let’s assume those fans staying on will be leaving Miami on Sunday.

The cheapest flight from Miami to Boston is £261, including a suitcase.

You can get to JFK airport in New York for just £17 – you would probably take that.

On to Mexico City, and it starts getting a bit pricey. You can get there with a connection in Denver but it’ll take more than 13 hours. It might be better paying the £433 for a three hour and 30 minute direct flight.

All of the above is before you factor in getting home.

In terms of accommodation, fans will need to be prepared to pay the same premium rates they’ve become used to since arriving here two weeks ago.

Tartan Army city guide

So let’s start with the easy one… Boston.

It’s a city Scotland fans now know with great familiarity and fondness.

Boston Stadium was home to Scotland’s first two Group C games against Haiti and Morocco, with the 64,000-seater around an hour outside of the city centre.

Along the George River there are plenty of hotels, bars and pubs to keep the Tartan Army occupied, if they’ve managed to restock their beer that is.

Fancy something else to do? Why not try a game of baseball at Fenway Park. The big derby with the New York Yankees is on Sunday, or even the Washington Nationals game on Tuesday.

If they make it to Mexico City, Scotland would be playing in one of the world’s iconic stadiums, the mighty Azteca.

Home of the “hand of god” from Mr Maradona and stage for classic finals in 1970 and 1986, capacity stands at 83,000 after an impressive makeover for this tournament.

Haggis tacos sound like something that has to happen… Altitude may be a problem though, given it’s 2,200 metres above sea level. At least it may be a bit cooler.

And lastly, New Jersey/New York. Scotland have already played in the region as they beat Bolivia, but it was at the rather smaller Sports Illustrated Stadium.

This one, ordinarily known as the MetLife, has more than 78,000 seats in the district of East Rutherford. It will host the final next month.

New York is probably the most expensive of options for the Tartan Army in terms of keeping themselves busy and a round trip from Penn Station out to the ground will also be a whopping $98.

All of the above feels incredibly hypothetical right now, but keep the faith.

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