Anyone who watched Scotland qualify for the World Cup in that memorable 4-2 victory over Denmark would be forgiven for thinking goals are not something they struggle with.
There was Scott McTominay’s acrobatic strike, Kieran Tierney’s curling effort and Kenny McLean’s outrageous lob from the halfway line – with apologies to Lawrence Shankland’s tap-in.
The problem for Scotland and their manager, Steve Clarke, is that they cannot rely on the spectacular when they head to the United States this summer. If they are to stand any chance of progressing from a group also containing Brazil, Morocco and Haiti, they are going to need their strikers to step up.
Misfiring forward options
Scotland are not blessed with prolific forwards. Shankland has 15 goals in 27 games across all competitions but has not been included in the current squad as he has only just returned from injury. That said, Shankland has hardly been a regular for Clarke who has largely used him as a substitute.
Che Adams is Clarke’s first-choice striker and is likely to start if he is fit. But Adams has been unreliable in front of goal and spurned several huge chances in Scotland’s 3-2 defeat by Greece in November.
Adams, who plays for Torino, has four goals and two assists in 27 games in Serie A and two goals in the Coppa d’Italia.
Charlton’s Lyndon Dykes, who was a starter at Euro 2020 but missed the tournament four years later with an ankle injury, has managed only four goals in the Championship this season. Adams and Dykes have been Clarke’s preferred choices and it was no surprise to see both named in his squad for this month’s friendlies against Japan and Ivory Coast.
Ipswich striker George Hirst, who has nine goals, and Middlesbrough’s Tommy Conway, who has eight and four assists, are also part of this squad but have limited international experience – in fact merely six caps each.
No wonder, then, that Scotland rely heavily on McTominay for goals.
The Napoli midfielder was the only Scotland player to score at Euro 2024, with their other goal coming from Germany’s defender Antonio Rudiger putting through his own net. McTominay was Scotland’s joint-top scorer in World Cup qualifying but only managed two, alongside Adams and Ryan Christie.
Scotland also lack goals from wide positions. There is a reason Clarke tried to convince Harvey Barnes to switch allegiance from England to Scotland. Barnes has 14 goals in all competitions for Newcastle this term and would certainly have added an extra attacking threat. Rangers winger Findlay Curtis. who is on loan at Kilmarnock, was a surprise call-up last week but it would be a tall order for the uncapped 19-year-old to force his way into the World Cup squad.
No room for McBurnie
Despite Scotland’s dearth of natural goalscorers, Clarke has continued to overlook the most prolific striker at his disposal.
No Scottish striker has more goal involvements than Hull City’s Oli McBurnie, who has scored 14 times in all competitions and provided eight assists. His 13 goals in the Championship are greater than any of his competitors’ league tallies. But McBurnie has not played for his country since 2021 and hardly set the international stage alight – failing to score in his 17 caps, though he did convert his penalty in the shoot-out with Serbia which sealed Scotland’s qualification for Euro 2020.
McBurnie angered some Scottish fans in 2019 when footage on Sheffield United’s TV channel suggested he was not keen on joining up with the national team. There was more scrutiny when he pulled out of a squad and then played for the club two days later. But Clarke defended McBurnie at the time, claiming he did not deserve the “bad press” and that he had given the forward permission to miss the camp in order to work on his fitness.
Clarke said the door remains open for players who did not make his most recent squad. Kieron Bowie, who joined Hellas Verona from Hibernian in a £6m deal in January, has been in previous squads but was not called up this time. Elsewhere, McBurnie’s club team-mate, Kyle Joseph, has eight goals and four assists in the Championship. Joseph, who has represented Scotland at under-18, 19 and 21 level, can also play out wide but it seems unlikely he would be brought into the mix now.
If Clarke does not look to bring in new or old faces before the summer then perhaps he will consider changing tactics. Former Scotland striker Kris Boyd has argued that Clarke should play two up front instead of Adams as a lone striker.
It is clear Scotland cannot continue to rely so heavily on McTominay but Clarke has only three months to come up with a plan to get his goal-shy strikers firing.