Scotland's World Cup Fate: The Goal Difference Calculator Nobody Wants to Do

[Emma92]

Scotland are out. Or are they? Three points. Minus two goal difference. The expanded 48-team World Cup format means eight third-placed teams advance to the Round of 32. Six groups produce third-placed teams. Scotland need their minus two goal difference to be better than enough of those other third-place finishers. The calculation is painful. Scotland beat Haiti one nil. Lost to Morocco nil one. Lost to Brazil nil three. Group C is done. Now Scotland watch every other group's final matches and calculate. It's the World Cup equivalent of checking results from grounds you weren't even playing at. The waiting is its own kind of torture.