Scotland’s first World Cup in almost three decades is starting to feel real for Ryan Christie and Ben Gannon-Doak, two AFC Bournemouth teammates who spoke about the return on the club’s Boot Room Series before the end of the season run-in. Christie said the long wait has finally shifted from something to imagine to something close enough to touch.
“I can’t wait, obviously, not so long now,” he said. “It starts to kind of get a bit real, to be honest.” Scotland qualified back in November, and Christie said that once the place was secured, the team had to put it to the back of their minds because the tournament still felt far away. Now, with summer approaching, the countdown has changed the mood. Scotland last played at a World Cup in 1998.
That absence is what gives this moment its weight. Christie said the qualification had broken a stretch that many generations had never seen, and he added that everybody around the squad is buzzing for it. “It’s only the older generations that will speak about it and how good it was,” he said. “There’s a good few generations in the middle that have not seen Scotland go to a World Cup in a very long time, so it was amazing to break that and be part of the team that’s going.” Christie and Gannon-Doak said they hoped to represent Scotland and make history by getting out of the group stage.
For Gannon-Doak, the approach to summer carried a more personal edge. He said getting back fit in time for the tournament was a major motivation after injury, and that the World Cup had been on his mind every day. “For me, it is a bit different - as I was injured, but that was a big motivation for me to get back fit at a good time so I can build myself up to be ready for summer,” he said. The pair also joked about the possibility of Scotland facing Bournemouth’s Brazilian star Rayan, with Gannon-Doak saying there would probably be no pre-match mind games because the Brazilian players do not speak English and Christie replying: “We might need to ramp that up.”
The conversation also showed how different the build-up can feel inside the same dressing room. Gannon-Doak said he hates playing against his mates and would need to hate them for a while, while Christie said he actually enjoys those matchups and finds them funny. Christie said it would be strange but special to share the biggest stage in football with people he knows, especially since he likes having someone in Bournemouth who knows Scottish stuff. Gannon-Doak said there is plenty of gossip about Scottish football, along with the occasional language barrier that comes with being north of the border. The only question left is whether both men will be on the plane when Scotland’s long-awaited World Cup campaign finally begins.
