What went wrong for Scotland in the World Cup?

It's now been confirmed that Scotland are out of the World Cup 2026.

While the team won their opening match, they then lost 1-0 to Morocco, and 3-0 to Brazil.

This left them with only a slim chance of going through to the last 32 as one of the eight best third-placed teams.

Croatia's win over Ghana on Saturday meant that, for Scotland, this was no longer a possibility.

There have been some successes for the team, namely their early 1-0 win over Haiti.

The estimated 50,000 Scotland fans who travelled to the US to see their team in action have also been a massive hit, with videos of them dancing in the streets and marching through cities to the sound of bagpipes going viral.

The Tartan Army particularly won the hearts of people in the city of Boston, with locals saying they would be sad to see them go.

But after becoming the first Scotland team to qualify for a World Cup in 28 years, where did their World Cup dream start to unravel?

Scotland had gone into Wednesday's game against Brazil in a good position to become one the best third-placed teams in the competition.

But defensive mistakes meant that they weren't able to perform as they had hoped.

BBC Sport's Amy Canavan has said that "the error-strewn defence were embarrassed three times in total", adding "it easily could have been more, such was the haphazard nature of the Scots' backline and the liveliness of the Brazilian attack".

BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has said that Scotland were in an extremely tough group with the world's fifth and sixth-best teams.

As a result, the team ending the group stage with one win and two defeats is what most people should have expected.

He added: "There was nothing surprising about what Scotland did, or did not do, against Morocco and Brazil. Those teams are better, pure and simple."

Tom English has also suggested that maybe Scotland's players are "not good enough" to compete at the top table of international football.

He said: "There are good to very good players sprinkled around the team, but the collective is decidedly average, at best, in a World Cup."

But others have disagreed, with Kilmarnock manager Neil McCann pointing out that Scotland has Lewis Ferguson voted the best midfielder in Italy, Scott McTominay who's up for Ballon d'Or discussions, and John McGinn who has just won the Europa League.

Steve Clarke sent a letter resigning as head coach just half an hour after it was confirmed Scotland wouldn't be progressing beyond the group stages.

Some critics have suggested he failed to get the best out of his group of players.

He also came in for criticism after his Scotland v Brazil post-match interview, where he appeared to walk off, telling the media later, "for sure we are going home".

Others have defended him, arguing that while the players are though hard-working and determined, they struggled to perform at this level.

Clarke also has many achievements to point to from his time in the role.

He became Scotland's head coach seven years ago, at a time when the country hadn't reached a major final since the World Cup in 1998.

While leading the team they reached two European Championships and this summer's World Cup.

Tom English has said that Clarke has "a fine legacy, and it has now reached its end point".

The dream may be over for Scotland fans this World Cup, but the good news for the Tartan Army is there's another one in 2030, just on the horizon.