Fenway Park in Boston got a taste of World Cup fever Sunday night.
Less than 24 hours removed from their nation’s first World Cup victory in 36 years, Scotland’s Tartan Army supporters staged a friendly invasion of the historic baseball stadium.
With two of Scotland’s three group stage matches being contested in nearby Foxborough, Mass., the Red Sox shrewdly staged a Scottish Celebration promotion for Sunday night’s game against the Texas Rangers.
The response was enormous, with an estimated 5,000 Scottish supporters marching to the stadium from nearby gathering spots, then taking over wide swaths of outfield seats.
The group even brought the bagpipes.
At numerous intervals, Peacock’s “Sunday Night Baseball” viewers might have wondered whether they had turned into the streaming service’s Premier League coverage instead, with choruses of the anthem “Super John McGinn!” audible during the broadcast.
The international contingent also joined in song when the Fenway public address system played ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” Boston’s traditional rendition of “Sweet Caroline,” The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” and “Yes Sir, I can Boogie!” — a relatively obscure 1970s Spanish disco hit that has become a Scottish national team anthem.
On Saturday, McGinn’s 28th-minute goal was enough to lift the Scots to a 1-0 triumph over a credible Haitian squad to take the lead in Group C.
The road gets considerably tougher from here, with a match against 2022 semifinalists Morocco on Friday in Foxborough, followed by a trip to South Florida to face five-time champion Brazil in Miami Gardens.
Morocco and Brazil played to a draw.
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
