By

BBC Scotland's chief sports writer at Miami Stadium

God bless the Tartan Army in all their beery magnificence. God bless them for their noise and colour and all-round cuddliness. God bless them for charming the good people of Boston and Miami and earning a full page feature in Wednesday's O Globo, Brazil's best-selling newspaper.

They tried to lift their team in Miami but a forklift truck couldn't have got Scotland's challenge off the ground - not while they defended as they did early on, not while they only stirred and forced five saves from Alisson in the Brazil goal when they were already 3-0 down.

'Lacking competitiveness on the pitch, Scotland put on a show with their fans' went the O Globo headline.

Well, the show stopped in Miami, Vinicius Jr bursting into the party, stopping the music and telling everybody to get to their beds.

Brazil did what some thought was impossible - they silenced the Tartan Army, they sucked the energy out of people who have gallivanted around this country for weeks low on sleep, high on gargle and stratospheric on positivity.

There were a few defiant cries, some shows of belligerence, but this thing was as good as done after seven minutes when Vini Jr scored his first and totally done when he scored his second before the break.

Herds of rampaging wildebeest have looked less awe-inspiring as these fans have for weeks. On Wednesday, in the stifling humidity of Miami, Brazil rounded them up and ran them into a yellow wall.

Shot at redemption or trip to torture chamber?

From early on, we were looking at the game, yes, but also working out the mad significance of it all. We turned elsewhere to see what all of this meant in the grand scheme of things.

Before the games began on Wednesday, Scotland were sitting relatively pretty as second of the best third-placed teams in the tournament.

Bosnia-Herzegovina's win over Qatar dropped Scotland to third. Brazil's dominance dropped them further. Down and down they went, their buffer all but removed, their obsession about results elsewhere in the coming days multiplying as they went.

Back to Charlotte, North Carolina they'll go on Thursday; battered and dazed, uncertain of their future in this tournament, if they have one.

As it stands, the predictor has them playing Mexico on Tuesday - a shot at redemption or another trip to a torture chamber?

That might turn on its head, of course. Other teams in the coming days will have plenty to say about this yet.

Scotland are sweating on a place in the last 32. That's the no-man's land they're living in now, frantically looking at the respective fates of Senegal and Ecuador, Curacao and Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and others.

There was a certain inevitably about it. Until Bolivia earlier this month, Scotland have never beaten South American opposition, never beaten Brazil in 10 attempts going back 50 years. They rallied and created moments but it was too little, too late.

The minute Vini Jr scored in the seventh minute those weather warnings that first looked a threat now looked like a relief. Seventy seconds last week against Morocco and seven minutes here in Miami. Where was that damned lightning? Where was the thunder and the respite?

Scotland don't just concede goals, they create calamities - the sort of slapstick defending that a player such as Vini Jr is waiting to take advantage of.

Scott McKenna will wake up in the dead of night for the rest of his days after this. He will remember the feeling of panic as he dawdled on the ball, he will see Rayan ransacking him in his sleep. Put your foot through it? No, delay and die.

When it broke to Vini Jr the best efforts of Gunn in goal could not stop him. In his own moment of terror, Gunn acted like a man jumping out of a cupboard trying to spook somebody. The Brazilian just took it round him and tapped it home.

For days the Scots would have worked on getting off to a solid start following their early concession against Morocco. All of that thinking drifted away in the Miami sky once Brazil hit the front.

Giving gifts to Vini Jr would have been the beginning, the end and the in between of the things Scotland knew they couldn't do.

It was his fourth World Cup goal. In that moment he became only the fifth Brazilian to score in all three group stage matches in a single World Cup - Jairzinho, Romario, Ronaldo and Rivaldo being the others.

Immortals, all. He's well on his way to joining them in the pantheon of greats.

Do impotent Scotland deserve to come home?

The electrifying noise and colour of the pre-match now became solely samba and almost exclusively yellow.

There was a second for Brazil - and for Vini Jnr - but VAR smiled on Scotland. The hydration break arrived and it wasn't liquid that the underdogs needed, it was oxygen, smelling salts, large brandies. And that lightning storm.

On the resumption, for some brief moments they looked, well, OK. The bar is not high, but they settled. They won some corners, they had a few cracks from distance.

Nothing that caused Brazil a scintilla of concern, but it was a breather, a break from the tormenting ways of Brazil's phenomenon on the left wing if nothing else.

That crumb of optimism was swept away when Vini capitalised on a second outbreak of world-class dithering in front of their own goal.

Andy Robertson gave it away in a hurry, Scotland lost the collision, Bruno Guimaraes dinked it to the back post, Gunn groped at air and Nathan Patterson lost Vini Jr. How could he miss him? One of the world's great talents and Patterson just let him peel away and head home.

Scotland spent 47 seconds in Brazil's final third in the opening half. When the half ended they still hadn't recorded a shot on target since John McGinn scored by way of a double deflection 28 minutes into the Haiti game. More than three hours without working an opposition goalkeeper.

No team deserves to go anywhere but home when you're as impotent as that.

Finally, Scotland, through Scott McTominay, got one on target but Alisson didn't have to shift his feet to stop it. Vini Jr was one-on-one with Gunn soon after but Gunn saved it. No matter. Guimaraes brushed Kenny McLean aside and teed-up Matheus Cunha for the third.

They brought on Neymar with 14 minutes to go and Miami Stadium erupted as if a fourth goal had gone in. It's been two and a half years since Neymar wore the famous jersey - and what a cushy way to make his return. No pressure, job done.

Brazil were going through as group winners no matter what he did. Adding some decoration on top was his only task.

Scotland rallied and had chances, mostly from McTominay, all of them kept out. It was almost painful watching them; trying everything but delivering nothing, not even a consolation goal that might prove significant. Who knows?

At the end, four Scotland men collapsed to the deck, from disappointment, from exhaustion. Playing in those conditions must have been savagely difficult.

They were down, but are they out? Progressing after one deflected goal and two defeats would be the strangest kind of achievement in the history of the national team.

The days ahead will tell us everything. For now, Brazil reign and confusion rules.

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