Scotland meet Bolivia in Harrison, New Jersey, on Saturday in their final friendly before the opening World Cup match against Haiti in Boston on June 14. Scotland arrive off a 4-1 victory over Curacao at Hampden Park in which they fell behind to Tahith Chong’s early goal and did not respond until Jurgen Locadia was sent off about 20 minutes later; Findlay Curtis and Ryan Christie added to a Lawrence Shankland brace after the sending-off.
Bolivia will not be at the World Cup after a 2-1 loss to Iraq in the inter-continental playoff final in March. Four forwards who were part of that squad—Victor Abrego, Enzo Monteiro, Fernando Monteiro and Juan Godoy—are not included for this friendly. The touring squad’s midfield and defence are populated by experienced players, but only two of the five forwards named for this game and the one against Algeria have senior caps.
Scotland’s preparations have been affected by injury. Midfielder Billy Gilmour, hurt in the Curacao game, has been ruled out of the World Cup and Manchester United youngster Tyler Fletcher has been called into the squad as his replacement. Fletcher was part of the extended group that featured against Curacao.
The friendly also gives manager Steve Clarke a chance to reintroduce players rested for the Curacao game. Goalkeeper Angus Gunn, defenders Kieran Tierney and Jack Hendry, midfielder Lewis Ferguson and striker Che Adams were not even on the bench at Hampden and could play a part in New Jersey as they prepare for the tournament.
Key details: kick-off is Saturday, June 6 at 9:00 p.m. BST (4:00 p.m. ET, 1:30 a.m. IST Sunday, 6:00 a.m. AEST Sunday) at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, NJ. According to ESPN, the match will be shown on BBC Two in the U.K., ESPN+ in the U.S., SonyLiv in India and Stan Sport in Australia, with live updates available via ESPN.
