Levein: Gannon-Doak is likely to be benched again against Brazil in the final Group C match
Former Scotland coach Craig Levein believes Ben Gannon-Doak is likely to start on the bench against Brazil, despite calls for him to be included in the starting XI after a classy sub against Morocco.
Former Scotland manager Craig Levein believes Ben Gannon-Doak is likely to start on the bench in Wednesday's final World Cup Group C match against Brazil, despite calls for the 20-year-old Bournemouth winger to be included in the starting XI.
There have been calls for Gannon-Doak to start after his devastating impact as a substitute in the loss to Morocco, even though he started in the opening win over Haiti. According to Levein on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound, he understands why head coach Steve Clarke might choose not to start it: "As coaches, you want to be tight from the start and not do something stupid to not give away a goal right away. In the match against Morocco, there was a goal after only 70 seconds, so that was a big blow. When you recover and don't cling again, you can go into the second half and that's when you can bring Gannon-Doak on. when the enemy is tired, he becomes more influential. Right now, that's where he's most useful."
Levein added that the performance against Morocco was better than the first match against Haiti, and he insisted that the Africans are on the up: "They may be better than Brazil at the moment." He said the 1-0 loss was a "good result" considering that the game plan was broken in the first minute, and if something can be lifted against Brazil, it is possible to pull out a point—which he said could be enough to advance to the next stage.
He also warned against starting everything: for Levein, it could be "suicide in football" to attack against Brazil.
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