Scotland 'want to be dangerous' in seismic World Cup clashes

Winning all three World Cup group matches would certainly put the current team in a bracket of their own. Reaching the knockout stage for the first time is the principal aim and one point from the remaining two Group C matches could be sufficient.

Dykes, however, believes Scotland should aim higher. He is in contention to start Friday’s pivotal clash against Morocco back at the Boston Stadium, where the Scots started the tournament with a victory against Haiti on Saturday night.

“I think we want to win every game,” he said. “That is the main aim for everyone. We have three games, we have won one of them so far and we have two more to go. We want to win both of those as well. It is going to be difficult, it’s not just going to be easy to say. But every game that we are going to play we want to try and win and obviously that is the main aim for everyone.”

It’s a bold strategy against Morocco and Brazil, who are both currently ranked in the world top eight. Dykes insisted Scotland’s underdog spirit can see them through.

“I believe we can beat them because of my team and the teammates I train with every time I’m away,” he said.

“We’ve got a fighting spirit. And growing up in my sporting career, I’ve learned never to write off an underdog, even if people are better than you or teams are better than you. When people don’t believe in you, it doesn’t mean you should just give up.

“I think we can definitely get another two wins in this tournament. It’s tournament football so anything can happen.

“It’s been really difficult for teams to win which you can see from recent results all over the World Cup,” he added.

“It’s going to be difficult but I believe in myself, my team and the manager. Also, all the fans who have travelled over, they help us to win games.” Dykes, who is battling Che Adams to lead the line, argues that a lone frontman approach is not necessarily a sign Scotland will sit in. If he plays, winger Ben Gannon-Doak offers an attacking outlet. Midfielders Scott McTominay and John McGinn, who struck Scotland’s winner against Haiti, are also threats. Dykes has scored 10 international goals in 52 appearances. When he has scored, Scotland have always won.

“We can’t just sit in and take relentless attacks against us,” he said. “That’s just not how we want to be. We want to be dangerous.

“Obviously they are a good team and they’re going to have a bit of the ball, the same as Haiti. They had the ball for spells and we had to defend as a team and that’s just the way it is.

“But every game is different. Morocco are going to be dangerous and they are going to be on the front foot, so we need to make sure we are sorted, make sure we are organised. We’ve always been like that against big teams. A lot of people on the outside world - or pundits of whatever - they doubt us in certain situations. But we always spin that around and turn up. And we need to make sure we do that on Friday.”