Remembering Scotland's World Cup bogeymen of finals gone by

Remembering Scotland's World Cup bogeymen of finals gone byImage source, Getty ImagesByTom EnglishBBC Scotland's chief sports writerPublished2 minutes agoSince their first attempt in 1954 there's always been some kind of misfortune lurking in the shadows for Scotland at World Cups.Their failure to get out of a group has taken many forms; hapless management, bad luck, psychological collapse. Along the way there's been a few bogeymen, characters that few in Scotland had heard until they helped detonate the dream... Back shaving & biggest posers - the Scotland squad in their own wordsPublished19 hours agoGordon to be oldest player at World Cup but Gunn handed No 1Published1 day agoGilmour admits struggle as World Cup dream taken awayPublished1 day agoCarlos Borges - a hero in every senseThe first of those bogeymen was Carlos Borges.He was a dynamic little winger and a prolific goalscorer, a graduate of the Penarol academy in Montevideo who was playing senior football at 14. On June 19, 1954, in Scotland's second game of their first World Cup, Borges scored a hat-trick for Uruguay in a 7-0 win in Basel. To this day, it's Scotland's biggest ever defeat in international football.To say they were unprepared is putting it mildly. In the heat, the Scots were wearing old-style boots, heavy cotton shirts and shorts that were ill-suited to the conditions. "It was a shambles," recalled Tommy Docherty, who was in the Scotland team that day. Docherty was marking a guy called Juan Schiaffino, a player he knew virtually nothing about. "Nobody told me how good he was." Had Scotland done a modicum of research they might have learned a thing or two. Not only were Uruguay reigning world champions, Schiaffino was one of their superstars, a goalscorer in the decisive match against Brazil in the 1950 finals.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Scotland's 7-0 defeat by Uruguay in 1954 remains their biggest ever in internati...