Scotland: Craig Brown relives France 98 World Cup journey

The stage was set for the main event, but first, the dress rehearsal.

Brown, ever a stickler for making sure his players were neat and tidy, led his team off the bus in St Denis on 10 June, 1998 wearing full kilts.

“It was a big hit,” said Brown, whose side were visited the night before by then prime minister Tony Blair. “The SFA had given everyone a blazer and flannels but I knew, if I’d asked [then Scottish FA chief executive] Jim Farry for kilts, he’d have said ‘no’, so the players were told to keep it quiet.”

An even more difficult task was at hand for Brown and his team – stopping the best striker in the word. Brazil were star-studded, but none shone brighter than Inter Milan’s Ronaldo. But the Scotland manager had a plan.

“I spoke to Bobby Robson, who had Ronaldo at PSV,” he explained. “I asked how we stop him and he said, ‘you don’t, just don’t let him get the ball’. Most of his passes came from Cafu at right-back, so I told Christian Dailly, ‘if you let Cafu cross the halfway line and pass to Ronaldo, you’ll be sitting beside me on the bench’.”

While Ronaldo was kept on a leash, Scotland were powerless to stop Cesar Sampaio crashing in a front-post header after five minutes. Brown curses the curtailed preparations due to the “pageantry” of the opening ceremony, but his side would soon warm up.

By half-time, Collins had levelled from the penalty spot before a gut-wrenching Tom Boyd own goal 16 minutes from time gave a relieved Brazil victory. “They did everything asked of them,” Brown said. “It gave us belief for what lay ahead.”