Scott McTominay major update ahead of Scotland World Cup opener as one star set to miss Haiti match

The Napoli midfielder missed training on Thursday due to a stomach bug and made the journey from Scotland’s base camp in Charlotte to Boston separately from the rest of the squad ahead of the Group C fixture.

The 29-year-old is widely considered to be Scotland’s most influential player and his absence against the Caribbean islanders would have been a major blow to Scotland’s hopes of getting the tournament off to a winning start.

However, head coach Steve Clarke and the Tartan Army can breathe a sigh of relief after McTominay was pictured back in training with his Scotland teammates on Friday, less than 36 hours ahead of kick-off at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Since the start of 2023, McTominay has been directly involved in 15 goals for Scotland (13 goals, two assists)—at least six more than any teammate. He was the country's top scorer during Euro 2024 qualifying and cemented his legendary status by scoring a spectacular overhead kick against Denmark to send Scotland to their first World Cup in 28 years.

However, one member of the squad looks set to miss out on the opening match against Haiti, which kicks off at 2am on Sunday BST.

Scott McKenna did not feature in the 4-0 warm-up win over Bolivia last weekend and the Dinamo Zagreb defender, who has not trained this week due to a knock, was again posted missing from the team session on Friday.

Another interested spectator was celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. The Scotsman watched Clarke’s squad go through their paces in their final preparations ahead of the keenly awaited return to the big stage.