'Clarke to drop Shankland for Christie or McLean' - McCall
Article excerpt
Stuart McCall, who scored in Scotland's last World Cup victory 36 years ago, is now assistant manager at Preston North End. McCall has weighed in on Scotland's squad selection, suggesting manager Steve Clarke should drop striker Lawrence Shankland in favor of either Lyndon Dykes or Che Adams for an upcoming match. The comments reflect ongoing debate about Scotland's forward options as they prepare for their next fixture.
It's Tuesday, 16 June 2026.
If we rewind 36 years to 16 June 1990 and the Italian city of Genoa, Stuart McCall was busy scoring to help Scotland secure a 2-1 win over Sweden.
The former midfielder jokes that he "was always deadly from a yard out" and ultimately that victory wasn't enough to ensure Scotland progressed to the knock-out stage, but up until this weekend, it was their last win at a World Cup finals.
Now the 62 year-old is assistant to Paul Heckingbottom at Preston North End, but he's also enjoying absorbing all the action from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
As a former Motherwell manager, he's been glad to see the Steelmen's Elijah Just scoring a brace for New Zealand in their 2-2 draw with Iran, but chiefly he's delighted that Scotland now have a more up-to-date World Cup win to look back on, albeit a nervy 1-0 triumph over Haiti.
"If you look at the celebrations that have been going on since the game, if we'd played brilliant football and created 20 chances but drawn 1-1, there wouldn't be the feeling there is going about the country at the moment," McCall told Radio Scotland Breakfast.
Next up, it's Morocco in Boston on Friday and McCall, who won 40 caps between 1990 and 1998, is quietly confident.
"I've seen people say [head coach] Steve Clarke might go to a back five," he said.
"I don't see that. You need to get at least a bit of creative spark on the park, so I think Ben Gannon-Doak will start.
"I would imagine they'll take Lawrence Shankland out and add another midfielder, whether that's Ryan Christie or Kenny McLean, who could sit in with Lewis Ferguson and let Scott McTominay play as a number 10 a bit further forward.
"It's going to be a difficult game, but the expectation levels are not the same as they were against Haiti. Against Morocco, we need a point. You can never set out to get a point, but that would be enough."