Ryan Christie believes Scotland have nothing to fear from going toe to toe with Morocco and Brazil at the World Cup.
European champions Spain were tenth in the world when they lost a Euro 2024 qualifier in Glasgow in March 2023.
The Scots also edged out a Denmark side in the top 20 of the FIFA rankings to secure qualification for the World Cup finals.
A point against Morocco - seventh in the world - or former World champions Brazil - currently at number six - would secure progression from the group stages for the first time ever.
Buoyed by the 1-0 win over Haiti which leaves Steve Clarke’s side top of Group C heading into tomorrow’s second game against the Moroccans in Boston, midfielder Christie believes Scotland have already shown that they can compete with the top nations at the tournament.
"The thing we take from this is, we've come up against teams that are as good as Morocco in recent years and gone to toe with them, so that's where we need to draw confidence from.
"We're not naive enough to think we're going to go and dominate possession and then limit them to zero chances; we need to keep those numbers as low as possible and do our bit when do get the chance to hurt them."
Clarke is wrestling with selection decisions ahead of the meeting with the Qatar 2022 semi-finalists.
Expected to tweak the 4-4-2 formation which secured a 1-0 win over Haiti, the Scotland boss could revert to a 3-5-2 incorporating Celtic’s Kieran Tierney or bring Christie back into a five-man midfield after the Bournemouth player started the opening game as a substitute. "It’s obviously tough to know what the manager's going to do," Christie said.
"He keeps his cards pretty close to his chest. I'm sure we will work on some stuff tomorrow before the game as well. I'm ready to play whatever, wherever he needs me.
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"I've said that my whole time I've played for Scotland, I've got such faith in the manager and what he sees me, where he thinks I can help the team best that, wherever he plays me, I'd be more than happy to chip in and play alongside the boys like Fergie, Scotty, and McGinn.
"It's a pretty star-studded midfield at this point, and it certainly makes my job easier."
The finals have already witnessed some unexpected upsets involving underdogs. Spain were held to a scoreless draw by tiny Cape Verde, Australia beat Turkey 2-0, and Qatar grabbed a 96th-minute equaliser against Switzerland.
Favourites to beat Haiti, victory felt like the release of a pressure valve for Scotland and Christie believes Scotland will now fill the underdog role they historically favour. "We're trying not to get too ahead of ourselves, but at the same time you've got to draw confidence from (those results) and kind of ride the wave a little bit," he said.
"And I don't think there's a better time to be going into this game with the feeling amongst the boys and in the camp. We are raring to go."
Where the Haiti game kicked off at 9pm east coast time, with temperatures significantly cooler, a 6pm kick-off (11pm UK time) will test the fitness and endurance of the Scots to the maximum.
Keen to avoid the loss of an early goal and allow the North Africans to gain momentum, Christie believes the opening 20 minutes will require new levels of discipline and organisation. "You can almost split the game into fours now, and you just need to get through each period, and you know you'll get your break," he said.
"The weather makes it very, very difficult to keep up that tempo, but that's what's asked of us, and that's what we've been training for and acclimatising for in the last few weeks.
"I thought the boys did brilliantly to kind of maintain that level against Haiti, and the running numbers for me, as a squad, we were superb,
"We definitely need to take that into the Morocco game."
