AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Scotland is in the World Cup for the first time in almost 30 years. Tomorrow night, they play their opening match against Haiti. And a tartan army of fans, many wearing Scottish plaid, will be there. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from Glasgow.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: When you think of the giants of soccer, you might think of Brazil or even England. But the way the game is played everywhere today, passing the ball frequently, actually developed in the late 19th century here...
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FRAYER: ...In Glasgow, says Andy Kerr, guide at the Scottish Football Museum.
ANDY KERR: And the style was very different. England almost played rugby with their feet - strong shoulder charges, big tackles. But the Scots players played what we call the short passing game, which has gone on to take the world by storm.
FRAYER: Scotland has the world's oldest national football trophy. It was Scottish migrants who first exported the game to powerhouses like Brazil and Argentina. Scotland gave the world Alex Ferguson, soccer's most decorated team manager. But he moved south for glory with Manchester United in the land of Scotland's archrivals, England.
KERR: The English Premier League is the most famous and the most moneyed league in all of the world. So in Scotland, sometimes it does feel a bit like being a poor relation who's on the outside.
FRAYER: Scotland has never made it past the group stage of any tournament. Fans call it glorious failure. When they made it into this World Cup, their first since 1998, a billboard went up in Glasgow with two words - we're in.
PAT NEVIN: It's incredibly significant, not just in terms of sport, but culturally.
FRAYER: Pat Nevin played for the Scottish national team back when there used to be a stereotype of the beer-guzzling tartan army.
NEVIN: Scotland fans, some decades ago, were seen as dangerous and maybe with a hint of violence behind them and not well-behaved and mostly drunk (laughter).
FRAYER: But in the 1970s and '80s, as violent fan hooliganism took hold in England, Nevin says Scotland fans differentiated themselves...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO SCOTLAND NO PARTY")
NICK MORGAN: (Singing) And even if we don't win - we will win, we will win.
FRAYER: ...By admitting, even singing, that they probably won't win, so why not just party with everyone?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NO SCOTLAND NO PARTY")
MORGAN: (Singing) No Scotland, no party.
FRAYER: "No Scotland No Party" is their fan anthem.
MOIRA BROWN: No Scotland, no party.
FRAYER: And one of those who'll be singing it in the stands at Scotland's opener near Boston this weekend is Moira Brown, who will be 94 this year.
BROWN: My first home international was 1946.
FRAYER: Since then, she's traveled the world - from Japan to Peru to Morocco - following Scotland's national team. World Cup tickets are the one thing she spends money on, and this is her fourth in person. She's hoping it lives up to the best one she ever saw more than a half century ago.
BROWN: The best real-life final I have ever seen live, '74, Germany and Holland.
FRAYER: West Germany won that one. Brown says it's her dream to see Scotland win this one.
BROWN: I go always in hope but often not expectation. Strange things can happen.
FRAYER: No matter what, there's always the next World Cup, when she'll be 97.
Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Glasgow.
(SOUNDBITE OF POST MALONE SONG, "CHEMICAL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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