Despite winning all of these games, Scotland’s opponents don’t tend to score many goals, which is a surprise. In Diaz and Saibari and the left-sided midfielder, Bilal El Khannouss, they have hugely dynamic attackers.
And, in Achraf Hakimi, they have one of the best right-backs in the world, if not the absolute best. Hakimi is the heart of it. Born in Spain to a street vendor father and a mother who was a cleaner, he has spoken often about how his upbringing shaped him.
The Paris St-Germain defender will stand trial for rape, French prosecutors have confirmed. Hakimi vehemently denies the accusations.
Hakimi is a magnificent footballer, at his best when going forward, an explosive force down the right for Morocco, a Serie A winner with Inter, twice a Champions League winner with PSG, a World Cup semi-finalist with his country four years ago.
Morocco are a team drawn from the diaspora. Of the starting line-up that drew with Brazil, their goalkeeper was born in Canada, two of their defenders hail from Spain, another from France and another from the Netherlands.
Neil El Aynaoui, the midfielder, was born in France, Bouaddi and Saibari in Spain, El Khannouss in Belgium. In the rest of the squad there are another nine players who originated in Spain, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Clearly, though, they are Moroccan to the core of their beings.
They represent a ferocious test for Scotland – and also an opportunity. Only a handful of Clarke’s team produced their best stuff against Haiti and none of them are hiding from that.
Scott McTominay was one of them. Maybe still feeling the impact of a tummy bug or, perhaps, weighed down a touch by the burden on his shoulders, the talisman was not all that talismanic.
He ran his heart out – with all nations having played one game, he ranked sixth overall in terms of kilometres covered – but he wasn’t the influence he can be. Nor was John McGinn, despite his goal.
It didn’t matter on the day, but it will matter against Morocco. Scotland’s totems need to turn up.
Clarke is likely to drop a striker and bring in an extra midfielder to cope with Morocco’s energy and class, to stifle while also retaining the capacity to strike out on their own. This can’t be backs-to-the-wall for 90 minutes.
Everything screams ‘the biggest test of their international lives’, but, also, everything we know about this Scotland team tells us that they are up for a fight. They go again.
