So all eyes, then, on the Kennedy Center in Washington DC for an end to the game we’ve all been playing since Kenny McLean scored the goal that was heard around the world against Denmark at Hampden last month – Scottish football’s moon landing with that ball spending almost as much time in space as Apollo 11.
The game of best-case and worst-case scenario has been fun. Each group can have two Uefa teams at most but only one from the other five confederations. Best-case: USA, Australia, Cape Verde. Worst-case: England (how dreary to travel so far to play the nation next door), Ecuador and Ghana.
Everybody will have their own take on that. Glamour or not in pot one? Scotland have only ever played Argentina four times in their history, all friendlies. Lionel Messi or something more manageable from the top seeds? Games on the east coast, the west coast or central? The joys, the joys.
The devoted out there will have sussed out the danger nations from South America (beyond the obvious) and the ones to avoid from Africa. Curacao from CONCACAF have been talked about, almost certainly for the first time ever in Scottish football history. Curacao are coached by former Rangers manager, Dick Advocaat.
Part of the majesty of being involved in this are the conversations down the pub – clued-up football folk wondering if it’s best to get Haiti from pot four because Haiti are on Trump’s banned list and none of their fans will be allowed into America to support their team, which might mean more tickets for the Tartan Army.
Scotland fans will travel, no matter what. Tickets or no tickets, you will find them there – wherever there happens to be. Beating Denmark in one of the greatest nights in the history of the national team – arguably, the greatest – was part one of the adventure and now it’s time for part two.
It’ll be long and tiresome in Washington on Friday, it’s got all the potential to be gaudy and embarrassing, uneasy on the eyes and the ears.
But it’s a promised land of sorts, it’s where Scotland have longed to be for close to 30 years. A place at the top table at last. A first World Cup for the youth of the nation to enjoy – and for the older ones, a return to a place they may have doubted they’d ever return to. This is not a dream. It’s really happening, folks.
