Scotland's ill-fated World Cup story finally at a sorry end

There is a notion that Scotland's team is packed with quality, but that argument doesn't hold a lot of water, if you're being brutally honest. This is a squad full of endeavour. There are good to very good players sprinkled around the team, but the collective is decidedly average, at best, in the rarefied air of a World Cup. This is not to denigrate players who have bust a gut for their country; it's an attempt to explain the real world they live in. Angus Gunn can't get a game for Nottingham Forest. Aaron Hickey is an excellent player, but he's jinxed by injury. Nathan Patterson struggles to get game time with Everton. Jack Hendry just finished seventh in the Saudi Pro League. Grant Hanley, for all his fantastic resilience, is not a high-end international defender. After an error against Morocco, Hanley was replaced by Scott McKenna against Brazil. McKenna made a catastrophic error after seven minutes. He's a good player who has just won the Croat league with Dinamo Zagreb. The number of Croatia-based players in their World Cup squad: two. The number who have featured in games so far: one. In last season's Europa League, Dinamo finished 23rd in the group of 36, so at a higher level, McKenna's team struggles because his team, frankly, is not top European class. Kieran Tierney is a terrific footballer but injuries curtail his influence. He's played one 90-minute game all season. …