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The Best England-born Scottish International in the World Cup

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A few Scottish internationals have been actually England-born and managed to shine in the FIFA World Cup.

Scotland finally returns to the FIFA World Cup ending their 28-year wait this year. The Tartan Army boss, Steve Clarke, knows they have to improve their team before the kick off to end their negative record in the final round.

Scotland has never been able to progress from the group stage in their world cup campaign. This year they hope to do things differently. Unfortunately, Scott McTominay and Co are seeded in a fairly tough group with Morocco, Haiti and Brazil. 

Steve Clarke’s men are in need of more prolific forwards in the squad following the not-so-satisfactory form of their attacking lines. Che Adams just scored two goals in the qualifiers while Lyndon Dykes or Lawrence Shankland only netted once each. Such a disappointing record if they aim to advance further in North America later. Thus, when Newcastle’s Harvey Barnes was eligible to switch sides to Scotland, Clarke soon made a call to contact him. 

Barnes has been in fine form this season with 12 goals and 2 assists in all competitions. The wide forward is capable of playing on both sides and has yet to earn another call-up from England since his debut in 2020. 

Unfortunately, Scotland’s hope to lure him to join the team dashes as he opts to snub the offer. The former Leicester man prefers to keep his option open for England despite the stiff competition to be included in the squad. England has a lot more options upfront as well as front wingers, whereas in Scotland he could instantly be named in the starting XI due to the lack of depth for the wide attacker. 

Throughout history, a number of Scotland international players have been England-born. Che Adams and Scott McTominay are even some of them although neither of them played for The Three Lions before. Here are the best England-born Scottish who had been the key men in the Tartan Army, including making appearances in the FIFA World Cup.



Stuart McCall 

The former midfielder was one of the best English-born Scotsman in history. He was part of the Tartan Army squad in three major tournaments, 1990 FIFA World Cup and two EURO editions, 1992 and 1996. McCall earned 40 caps but only netted once. Yet, it was a crucial goal. He bagged the opener in a 2-1 win over Sweden in Italy 1990. It gave Scotland hope to qualify to the second round after losing 2-1 against Costa Rica in the first game. Unfortunately, they were beaten by Brazil in the third match and failed to secure one berth to the round of 16.

 During his playing years, the former Glasgow Rangers man won five league titles. Before moving to Glasgow, he played for Everton and Bradford City. He returned to the latter in 1998 and finished his career with Sheffield United.

Andy Goram 

The Bury-born goalkeeper is certainly the next one on the list. He was part of Scotland squad in major tournaments from 1986 FIFA World Cup to EURO 1996. Goram was only the understudy in the world cup but he was the first choice in two EURO editions, 1992 and 1996. He made crucial saves as he kept clean sheets as they held Netherlands in a goalless draw and thumped Switzerland 1-0. Sadly, Craig Brown’s men narrowly missed out the spot to quarterfinals in the latter EURO edition.

The former Rangers shot stopper was capped 43 times and kept clean sheet in 19 games. Surprisingly, he decided to retire from national team due to being clubless and his age, just a few days ahead of 1998 world cup kick off, in which Scotland faced off Brazil at the opener. He was concerned how the media mistakenly tagged him as leaving the squad because of not being the first choice at that time. It was not entirely true as his boss, Craig Brown, had no issue with his voluntary decision.

David Harvey

The best English-born Scottish international in history is none but David Harvey. He was the first shot-stopper in 1974 FIFA World Cup and voted the best goalkeeper in the competition despite the fact that Scotland failed to progress from the preliminary round.

Kenny Dalglish and Co managed to pick up one win and two draws but only finished third in the standings due to lack of goal difference compared to Yugoslavia and Brazil. They were able to share spoils in a 1-1 and goalless stalemate against them respectively but only could snatch a 2-0 win over Zaire, the weakest team in the group.

The memorable game for Harvey was the match versus the reigning champion, Brazil. The former Leeds man made two important saves plus anticipated one attempt as the Selecao forward tried to round the ball in the penalty box at the second half.

Unfortunately, Harvey was only capped in 16 international games and Germany 1974 was his only appearance in major tournament. He was no longer part of the squad since 1976 due to his degrading form after the car crash during the 1974/75 season. Harvey even also lost his place in the club briefly but was unable to bounce back again afterwards. He eventually left The Whites in 1980 and joined NASL’s Vancouver Whitecaps. Ironically, he suffered another car accident in North America before returning to Leeds in 1983 when they were competing in the second tier.


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