United Shakes of America! Thousands of Tartan Army footsoldiers head to the World Cup

By JOHN MCGARRY, SCOTTISH CHIEF SPORTS FEATURE WRITER Published: 20:37, 8 June 2026 | Updated: 20:37, 8 June 2026 Scotland's charm offensive of the United States is now in full swing as the Tartan Army gather for the World Cup. It is thought up to 30,000 Scots have either arrived or are making their way to the States to celebrate Scotland being in their first finals since 1998. The kick-off for the football extravaganza is on Thursday, with Scotland in action against Haiti at 2am on Sunday UK time. The fans have already made their presence felt as they partied with locals and other fans after Scotland beat Bolivia in a friendly warm-up game at the weekend. Fraser Gall, 32, travelled from Glasgow Airport with his wife and sons Caden 13, Rory, eight, and four-year-old Leo to catch Scotland’s opening game, while fellow footsoldiers George Cameron and Stevie Greer, from Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, managed to wangle a trip into the cockpit of their flight from London. Steve Clarke’s team has now arrived at their training camp in Charlotte, North Carolina, as they get used to the heat and humidity ahead of the clash with Haiti. The boss was all smiles as he took time out to speak to a delighted young Scott McTominay fan. Scotland head coach Steve Clarke speaks with a young fan during a training session  Fraser Gall, 32, is travelling with sons, Leo, 4, Caden, 13, Rory, 8, to the Haiti game in Boston It has also emerged that claims the tournament had sold out were wide of the mark, with briefs turning up on resale platforms – including FIFA’s own. Tartan Army footsoldiers still have a chance to grab a ticket for Sunday’s game in the Gilette Stadium near Boston, despite FIFA President Gianni Infantino claiming earlier this year each of the 104 matches that will take place across the USA, Canada and Mexico had ‘already sold out’. Although some are back on the market at inflated prices, many sellers are offering the briefs at face value. Seatpick, a ticket comparison aggregator site, has 2,000 tickets for sale with prices ranging from £275 to £51,923.Originally, tickets cost between £45 and £371 with the number of cheapest ones restricted by the governing body. But now FIFA’s own resale platform, where it takes 15 per cent cuts from the seller and the buyer of each ticket, is also showing tickets available. A number of social media posts said it looks like tickets are being ‘dumped in bulk onto secondary markets, at prices below FIFA’s official site’. FIFA has faced a barrage of criticism over the pricing of tickets for the finals, and the decision to adopt a dynamic pricing strategy which meant many fans simply could not afford the briefs. It has now been accused of colluding with resale platforms in a bid to shift tickets for low-demand games and avoid compensation claims from fans who have already bought them. Austrian economist Florian Ederer said on X: ‘FIFA is colluding with third-party resale platforms for its own supply management.’ There is also anger over the U.S. immigration policies, with Haiti only having its American diaspora at the stadium after President Trump put the nation on his banned list for travel visas. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.