McGinn ends Scotland's 36-year World Cup wait with winner against Haiti in Boston

John McGinn’s deflected 28th-minute strike secured Scotland a 1-0 victory over Haiti at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Thursday, ending a 36-year wait for a World Cup win and sending Steve Clarke’s side to the top of Group C ahead of Brazil and Morocco.

It was Scotland’s first victory at a World Cup since 1990, and only their fifth in the tournament’s history. The win was far from convincing — Haiti, ranked 83rd in the world, pushed Scotland throughout — but the result was enough to spark wild celebrations among the thousands of Tartan Army supporters who had made the transatlantic journey to Massachusetts.

McGinn, who captained Aston Villa to Europa League glory earlier this summer, collected the man-of-the-match award for a performance that, while not flawless, delivered the moment Scotland’s supporters had waited decades for. No Scottish player had scored at a World Cup this millennium before the Villa midfielder broke the drought.

The goal arrived when Scotland needed it most. McGinn’s effort took a deflection on its way in, but the stadium erupted regardless, with the Proclaimers blaring around Gillette Stadium as the Tartan Army marked the occasion in full voice. For a group of supporters who had hired fleets of yellow school buses to make the journey from Boston to Foxborough, the reward was worth every mile.

Scotland’s position at the summit of Group C is unlikely to last long, with Brazil and Morocco both still to play, but it represents something genuinely historic for a nation that has never reached the knockout stages of a major tournament. Clarke had called on his players to do something special ahead of the game; in the context of Scotland’s history, they already have.

The last time Scotland won in a major competition was Ally McCoist’s goal against Switzerland at the 1996 European Championship. That 28-year wait is now over, and with it comes the tantalising possibility — for the first time in Scottish football history — of a place in the last 16.