Scotland Win World Cup

Scotland have won the World Cup – the version for sides composed of homeless people at least.

The Scots beat Mexico 4-3 in the final at the Stade de Liberte in Paris.

The event brings together players from a range of social projects across the world.

William Hamilton and Sean Lawrence scored for Scotland but found Mexico their match in the first half as Morales Montiel and Juan Jose Torres Mendoza provided El Tri with two equalisers.

However it was to be Scotland’s day as William McLean fired in two more to take the Scots 4-2 ahead. Perez Vasquez managed a late consolation for Mexico.

48 nations entered and eight countries reached the finals after the group stages in the tournament played between August 21st and 28th.

The eight who emerged were Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil, Ukraine, Indonesia, Chile, Kenya and Scotland.

The 40 other sides including the USA and Canada featured in other tournaments for sides eliminated in those stages and earlier.

Neither the US or Canada managed any wins in their group stages, but were more successful in the lower ranked tournaments into which they were subsequently placed.

In the “City Cup”, the USA beat Austria (5-4) and Italy (4-2) before losing that final to Denmark 9-5 in the final.

Team Canada, who had been waved off by the supportive Vancouver Whitecaps franchise, played in the INSP tournament and beat Spain (4-2) while losing to Germany (3-4) and Cambodia (3-4).

In the women’s tournament, Canada won the North American derby beating the USA 4-2. Mexico also reached the final of the women’s version only to lose 4-3 again, this time to Kenya.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said of his nation’s success:

“My heartfelt congratulations go to the Scotland team. This is a fantastic achievement and one that all those involved in the squad should be immensely proud of.”

See a photostream of the tournament here

To recap, let’s write this one more time in case the chance never arises again:

Scotland have won the World Cup

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