McGinn puts Scotland ahead against Haiti in World Cup opener

John McGinn gave Scotland the start it wanted and the burden that comes with it, scoring in the 28th minute to put Steve Clarke’s side 1-0 up against Haiti in their Group C opener at Boston Stadium. The strike was Scotland’s first World Cup goal since Craig Burley scored against Norway in 1998, a gap that stretches across an entire generation of Scottish football.

The goal arrived in the opening Group C fixture for both teams at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, staged in Foxborough, Massachusetts, at a venue FIFA says was heavily renovated for the tournament and will host seven matches. For Scotland, the match marked a return to the finals for the first time since 1998. For Haiti, it was only their second World Cup finals appearance and their first since 1974.

McGinn’s finish carried more than the weight of one early lead. It cut through the tension surrounding Scotland’s long absence from the sport’s biggest stage and gave Clarke’s team a foothold in a match that already functions as a measure of whether Scotland can turn emotional significance into controlled tournament football. The opener also underlined the scale of the moment for the squad, with Clarke selecting Lawrence Shankland and Che Adams to start in attack.

Boston Stadium provided the backdrop for that return, with FIFA pointing to the upgraded venue as one built to handle the demands of the tournament. The matchup placed Scotland’s long-awaited comeback in a stadium designed for the spotlight, and it did so against a Haiti side that arrived with its own history to reckon with, chasing only its second appearance at the finals and its first in 52 years.

For Scotland, the challenge now is not only to celebrate the first goal in 28 years but to show that the drought is over in more than symbolic terms. McGinn’s opener delivered the statement; the rest of the Group C campaign will determine whether Scotland can sustain it.