Three Scotland players miss training ahead of Brazil World Cup match

Aaron Hickey, Scott McKenna and Lewis Ferguson were all posted missing from the group session on Sunday morning as preparations continue for the crunch match against the six-time world champions in Miami.

However, it is understood all three were doing individual work at the Scots’ base in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Right-back Hickey came off in the 1-0 win over Haiti and was absent for the 1-0 defeat by Morocco on Friday at the Boston Stadium with Nathan Patterson taking his place at right-back.

Centre-back McKenna has been managing a calf complaint and has yet to feature in the tournament while Ferguson played the whole 90 minutes against both AFCON champions Morocco and the CONCAFAF qualifiers Haiti.

Kieran Tierney was taken off against Morocco in the second half with cramp but the Celtic defender trained with the rest of the squad on Sunday morning.

Scotland assistant coach Steven Naismith provided an update on the absent trio.

“McKenna is fine,” he said. “He will be at training tomorrow.

“I think Lewis Ferguson has run the most in the tournament so he has taken a rest, he’ll be all right. And Aaron is improving every day. The judgement for him over the next couple of days will happen at meetings on what the squad looks like.”

Scotland are guaranteed to finish in third place and three points could be enough to get them through to the knockout stages for the first time.

A point against Brazil at Hard Rock Stadium would all but guarantee that historic feat, while a first ever win against the South American side would secure progression with a top two finish.

Scotland have faced Brazil four times in the group stages of the World Cup, drawing 0-0 in 1974 and losing 4-1 in 1982, 1-0 in 1990 and 2-1 in 1998.