If Scotland progress into the World Cup knockout stages it would only ‘continue the embarrassment’ as they ‘don’t really deserve’ to be there, believes Craig Burley.
After a 3-0 defeat to Brazil on Wednesday, Scotland are likely out of the World Cup, having picked up three points from their group stage games.
There remains a chance that they could be one of the eight best third-placed teams after the group stage, but they would need a string of results to go their way in the coming days.
After a 1-0 win over Haiti and then defeats to Morocco and Brazil, 46-cap Scotland international Burley feels their race should be run.
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The expanded World Cup format this year means 32 teams progress to the knockout rounds, but the former Chelsea midfielder feels this just rewards teams that don’t deserve to be there.
‘I have no problem with Scotland going out because, I’m sorry, I know this is the way the bracket works with the 48 teams but we’re just rewarding complete mediocrity here,’ Burley said on ESPN.
‘They don’t really deserve to go through, if we’re being honest, and I don’t think they will barring getting lucky.
‘If they do go through I just think it’s going to continue the sort of embarrassment of looking at what Scotland are and it’s kind of second rate, isn’t it?
‘They just don’t have the players. They’ve got a couple. But they just don’t have the players of yesteryear. World class players. Guys at the back like [Alan] Hansen and others who couldn’t even get a game at times. Who could pass the ball for fun, with anybody. They just don’t have that.
‘If they go through, fine. But there should be no celebration if this is the first ever Scotland team to qualify from the group stage, because it’s just really by default.’
Liverpool legend Steve Nicol, who won 27 caps for Scotland, feels the World Cup is being ‘devalued’ by third-placed teams qualifying from the group stages.
‘If you take Scotland’s name away, just the quality of that group of players shouldn’t be going forward in a World Cup,’ he said.
‘A World Cup is supposed to be the elite. It’s the medal that every single player wants to win more than any other, regardless of what country you play in. And it’s being devalued when there are certain teams that are going to be going through that just don’t deserve to be there.’
Scotland boss Steve Clarke was asked about the wait to see if his team have a World Cup future, but dismissed the question and walked out of the interview with the BBC.
‘I can’t even think about that. Sorry, I can’t even think about it,’ Clarke said before leaving abruptly.
He added in another interview: ‘It was unbelievable the shift the players put in, the ones who played 90 minutes in that heat and humidity were outstanding, but we have to be better if we want to compete at this level.
‘In the first four or five minutes we passed the ball well and then made a mistake. You cannot do that at this level because it puts you on the back foot and it becomes a long night.
‘For sure I think we’re going home.’