Mexico 1 Scotland 0: Alex McLeish’s side fall to defeat in the Azteca Stadium

SCOTLAND were beaten but far from disgraced on their first ever visit to the Azteca Stadium.

Certainly the tourists, whose starting line-up had just 28 caps compared to 567 of their Russia-bound hosts, had to sustain lots of pressure in the rarefied atmosphere almost a mile and a half above sea level.

Mexico, who scored early, dominated possession with some slick football and struck both post and crossbar.

They also had a disallowed goal with Oribe Peralta’s late effort ruled offside and a couple cleared off the line.

But Alex McLeish’s side were also denied by the woodwork with Oli McBurnie powering a second half header onto the post.

The spirit with which they defended in challenging conditions bodes well for the Nations League ties against Albania and Israel in the autumn.

One of the world’s most iconic football grounds, the so-called Cathedral of Mexican football is mighty impressive in the flesh. Small wonder, given its history.

In 1970 it was here that Pele lifted the World Cup after his Brazil side, arguably the best ever seen, routed Italy 4-1 in the Final.

Sixteen years later when the tournament returned to Mexico, Diego Maradona made it his personal playground.

In the quarter final win against England he produced both “the hand of god” and “the goal of the century”. In the Final itself he was inspirational in a win over West Germany watched by a crowd of 110,000.

For Mexico’s send off to the 2018 World Cup, crowd restrictions meant there was ‘just’ 72,000, a figure which included some 400 Tartan Army.

That was 12, 000 fewer fans than turned out to watch a Scotland youth side beat their age level hosts in 1983, the winner coming from current Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke.

Whether Clarke would have fancied these odds was another question: The Mexico team which lined up had eight changes from the side which drew 0-0 with Wales and was the one expected to line up in Russia.

By contrast Scotland’s skipper for the night, Scott McKenna, was making only his fourth appearance for the country.

That was three more than keeper Jon McLaughlin whose debut got off to a nerve shredding start with Mexico grabbing an early lead.

LA Galaxy’s Giovani dos Santos was the scorer, playing a neat 1-2 with Carlos Vela, ex of Arsenal, before sliding a low shot into the corner of the net from the edge of the box.

He had little time to draw breath because Mexico, who were having great success with raking diagonal balls, threw themselves forward in green wave after green wave.

Miguel Layun curled a lovely effort onto his left post before Hirving Lozano had him scrambling to the other side of his goal to pull off a fine stop.

He made it to half time without conceding any more goals at which point he gave way to another debutant, Celtic’s Scott Bain who showed his readiness with a great double save from Lozano and Hector Herrera.

The new arrival had cause to be grateful to Stephen O’Donnell, though, the full back stepping in to clear off the line.

Like McLaughlin before him too, he was also saved by the woodwork when Lozano smashed the ball past him from close range.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic, though, with McBurnie’s header onto the post from a fine Johnny Russell run and cross as good as any of Mexico’s attempts, their goal apart.

Scotland threw on the substitutes to ensure fresh legs near the end and the new inclusions matched the commitment of those they replaced.

Scotland 4-5-1: McLaughlin 6 (Bain 46 8); O’Donnell 7, McKenna 7, Hendry 7, Shinnie 6; McLean 6 (Cadden 56 6), McGeouch 6; Russell 7, Paterson 6 (Mulgrew 56 7), Christie 6 (McGinn 56 6); McBurnie 7 (Morgan 80 6). Unused subs – McTominay, Archer, Murphy.