"We're all devastated..." Steve Clarke Questions VAR Decisions After Disappointing Morocco Defeat

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke admitted he was left disappointed by several pivotal moments in his side's 1-0 defeat to Morocco, including a first-half challenge by defender Issa Diop that he felt could have warranted a red card.

The narrow loss at Foxborough leaves Scotland's hopes of reaching the World Cup knockout stages uncertain ahead of their final Group C fixture against Brazil.

Morocco scored the opening goal just 70 seconds after kick-off. A perfectly weighted pass from Brahim Díaz split the Scottish defence, allowing Ismael Saibari to surge through and fire emphatically past Angus Gunn for his second goal of the tournament.

That early setback left Scotland chasing the game for much of the evening. While Steve Clarke's side gradually improved and enjoyed their best spell after the interval, they still could not find a breakthrough against a disciplined and well-organised Moroccan defence.

Speaking after the match, Clarke pointed to a first-half incident involving Ché Adams as one of several moments that could have altered the course of the contest.

The Scotland manager felt that Diop denied Adams a clear goalscoring opportunity when he brought him down, and the Moroccan centre-back received only a yellow card.

"I was a little bit disappointed in the last man foul," Clarke told BBC Sport "For me, Che might be clear through on goal. On another day, you might get those decisions."

Expanding on the incident during his post-match press conference, Clarke said the decision remained a source of frustration, particularly after the video assistant referee upheld the on-field call.

"Everyone was talking about Scott McTominay, but I thought the John McGinn one was 50-50," Clarke explained. "Che Adams was last man, a chance to go through, one-on-one with the goalkeeper and the referee chooses yellow and VAR backs the referee. There's nothing we can do about it."

Scotland also appealed for penalties during the second half after challenges on both McGinn and McTominay inside the area. While Clarke stopped short of directly criticising those decisions, midfielder Ryan Christie admitted he felt one of the incidents may have warranted a closer look.

"I've thought the one on McGinn could have been a penalty," Christie said. "I had a good view of that. There weren't many fouls getting given out there, to be honest."

Despite his frustrations with some of the officiating, Clarke was more concerned about Scotland's sluggish start and how his side conceded so early.

"I wish we could start again," he admitted. "We lost a poor goal. We tried to step up and let runners go in the opening moments of the game. They showed energy and invention."

However, the Scotland boss took encouragement from the way his players responded after a difficult start.

"I think we picked ourselves up in the first half after it took 10 minutes to get into the game. There's a setback which makes it hard to respond. We dug in, got ourselves back in the game and started moving the ball better."

Clarke believed Scotland carried that momentum into a much-improved second-half display but ultimately lacked the cutting edge required to rescue a result.

"We're all devastated and disappointed because we want to carry on in this tournament as long as we can," he said.

Attention now turns to a daunting final group match against Brazil. Clarke acknowledged the emotional impact of defeat but insisted his squad must quickly regroup.

"You have to let the players suffer over the next 48 hours because they don't like losing. We'll rest, recover and go again. The games don't get easier."

The Scotland manager also reserved praise for Morocco, who followed up their draw against Brazil with another impressive performance.

"I really fancy this Morocco side to go deep in the tournament," Clarke said. "I think they have the players and the ability to get to at least the last four in this one."

With Morocco now firmly on course for the knockout stages, Scotland must produce their biggest performance of the tournament against Brazil if they are to keep their World Cup dream alive.