Shankland and Curtis make World Cup move - but will Clarke respond?

Image source, SNS By Tom English BBC Scotland's chief sports writer at Hampden Published 1 hour ago For an hour at Hampden, Lawrence Shankland was a peripheral figure, a support act for George Hirst - Scotland's number nine - and diminished because of it. Shankland ran everywhere apart from where he is most effective. He dropped deep and ran wide, he sacrificed himself so that Hirst could be the one leading the line. He was in the margins of a nervy farewell to Hampden before the team heads for the United States on Sunday. That would change, of course, And thank goodness. Shankland pushed on, took up more dangerous positions and, surprise, surprise, scored and then scored again. Two chances and two beautiful finishes. Shankland is, by a margin, Steve Clarke's most accomplished striker. Let's hope the message lands. No more Che Adams starting the big games. We're firmly in the Shankland era now. He's the one you'd want in a do-or-die moment in America, a chance to keep Scotland alive in the tournament. When the new Rangers striker made it 2-1, then 3-1, a day of toil against the 10 men of Curacao - world ranking of 82 - turned into something altogether more palatable. Up until those moments, Scotland were in mortal danger of being sent on their way with a collective shrug from the Tartan Army, a goodbye and good riddance message as they prepared for departure. Eventually the loss of Jurgen Locadio, the hulking forward who walked in the 38th minute after an elbow on Aaron Hickey, told. That was the turning point. Curacao were 1-0 ahead at the time and Scotland were struggling. The stadium was like a morgue. This is not how it was meant to be. Locadio dynamited his team's chances and prepared the ground for Scotland's comeback. Nobody wanted that, not Curacao and not Clarke either. To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, Shankland scores double against Curacao Scotland put four past 10-man Curacao Clarke '100% worried' about Gilmour injury Published 1 hour ago How to watch the World Cup on the BBC Published 10 December 2025 Is Clarke's mind already made up? How telling was the final scoreline? It's a moot point. When it was 11 v 11, Curacao were probably the better side. Certainly, they were the side with the lead. Powerful and physical and causing problems in Scotland's defence, they were comfortable. You wouldn't want to read a whole lot into the 4-1 but it was welcome, a fillip when a catastrophe presented itself at 1-0. They'll take it and head off in reasonable heart. They got a warm reception as they did their walkabout later on. Next stop: New Jersey for a final prep game against Bolivia next Saturday. Shankland, for sure, will travel in brilliant fettle. Clarke's pecking order of strikers would most likely have had Adams in pole position, but that view is becoming harder to justify. The quality of Shankland's finishes - neither of them all that straightforward - must now