Gordon Strachan’s first concern at the World Cups in Spain and Mexico was staying out of the sun. In 1982, manager Jock Stein ordered his paper-skinned ginger talisman indoors if he dared show a freckle outside. Confined to his hotel rooms to avoid heatstroke, one of Strachan’s main takeaways from his two World Cups was the pure boredom of everything except the matches.

Four years later, in Mexico, Scotland had a hard group including the excellent Denmark team as lowest seed, plus Uruguay and eventual runners-up West Germany. A 1-0 defeat to Denmark was a creditable opening, given Olsen, Arnesen, Laudrup (Michael) and the rest beat Uruguay 6-1 in their next match.

Strachan got Scotland off to a great start in their second game, chasing Roy Aitken’s pass into West Germany’s penalty area and swivelling a hard first-time shot that deflected inside Harald Schumacher’s near post. It was Strachan’s World Cup high point, and he tried to show it in his celebration, miming a pretend jump over advertising hoardings that came up around his chest. His little legs wouldn’t carry him over that hurdle, but they’d given Scotland a valuable lead.

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