Scotland's 26-man squad will end a 28-year absence from the men's World Cup this weekend, and for a generation of players and supporters, that means a return to a stage most of them have only heard about. Sport Scotland asked Rachel Corsie, Paul Lambert and Darren Jackson what it is like when Scotland finally gets there.

For Corsie, the build-up is not glamorous. It is a long stretch of trying to stay fit, stay sharp and stay available. She said she wanted to be in the best condition of her life, did not want to get hurt, wanted to be selected and wanted to keep playing for her club, because there are so many things on a player's mind before the tournament ever starts. That is why this weekend matters now: the waiting ends, and the pressure turns into a real squad, a real schedule and a real opening match.

That pressure is part of the reason the return feels so big. Steve Clarke's players include many who know the European Championship but not the World Cup, and that gap matters. A side can learn one kind of major tournament quickly enough; the men's World Cup is another level entirely, with the whole summer shaped around selection, fitness and the feeling that one decision can change everything.

Lambert, who was in Scotland's squad at France 98, said the waiting can feel endless until the selection is made, and then it starts to sink in that the summer could be the greatest tournament for the national team. Jackson, also part of that 1998 squad, said the occasion only became real when he lined up in the Stade de France for the opener against Brazil and found himself standing next to Ronaldo. The rest of that Brazil side included Rivaldo, Dunga, Roberto Carlos and Cafu, and that is the kind of detail that strips away any illusion. At that level, the tournament is not a concept. It is the player beside you in the tunnel.

That is the contradiction Scotland is walking into now. The country is returning to the men's World Cup after nearly three decades, but most of Clarke's squad still do not know what it feels like to play there. Corsie has been through the women's finals in France in 2019, Jackson and Lambert know the old men's stage, and the challenge for this group is whether European Championship experience is enough to steady the nerves when the World Cup starts to bite. The first answer will come this weekend, when the waiting gives way to football.