Scotland’s 2am kick off ‘difficult’ for kids but ‘pubs will do a roaring trade’, says manager Clarke

At least for the Tartan Army travelling to the United States the World Cup schedule is favourable.

Less so for the fans staying in Scotland – with England benefitting from more social kickoff times to watch from home.

FIFA stretched out the World Cup draw into an additional day in Washington, adding a second half with another show that revealed the exact schedule for teams.

Fans can start planning their trips for the first World Cup to be spread across three countries.

But England and Scotland will only play in Canada or Mexico depending on their progress in the tournament – with FIFA deciding their entire group stages in June should be played in the United States after a complex night of deciding between venue options and kickoff times.

Scotland’s group stage is all on the east coast of the US with the first two matches in Boston in a 60,000-plus capacity stadium used by the NFL’s New England Patriots.

But while the second Group C game against Morocco is at 6pm (11pm in Scotland), the opener against Haiti is at 9pm which is 2am at home.

“I’m sure the pubs will do a roaring trade,” Scotland manager Steve Clarke told Sky News.

“Good for the adults. They’ll be able to stay up late and watch it.

“Maybe a little bit more difficult for the kids but I’m sure a lot of Scottish kids will be sleeping in the morning after watching the games.”

Conditions should be cooler in Boston than Miami where the temperature is likely to be 20C and rising even at 6pm for the clash with Brazil – which is at 11pm BST.

Clarke said: “We’ve got to go out and find a suitable base, get ourselves settled in and make sure we’ve got everything right for the players so that they can perform during the maximum. That’s the next job.”

Every England game will be finished for viewers at home by midnight.

The Club World Cup last summer showed how heat and thunderstorms can pose health challenges and even delay matches.

The potential for fierce 30C summer heat at 3pm (9pm BST) will be avoided for England in Dallas for the opener against Croatia because the 70,000-seat Cowboys stadium is climate-controlled inside.

“England has always been on our list, we hope we get England here,” Monica Paul, executive director of the Dallas Sports Commission, told Sky News.

“We love the tradition and history of what soccer means to the English fans. So really ready to welcome them to Dallas.

“I think we’re going to have enough beer, but we’ll start working on that now too as well as positioning our pubs to welcome all those English fans.”

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It’s also a 9pm kickoff back in England for the second Group L match against Ghana – 4pm in Boston.

Could Ghana benefit from Scotland fans sticking around Boston from their match against Morocco four days earlier, a day before they’d need to be in Miami?

England complete the group against Panama, kicking off at 5pm in New Jersey – 10pm at home.

It’s the stadium where they hope to return for the final on 19 July.

It’s the biggest, longest World Cup with the jump from 32 to 48 teams requiring 104 matches rather than 64 previously.

It will take 64 matches just to complete the group stage. Fans can start saving up cash and hope they are not priced out by dynamic pricing but secure fixed-priced tickets.

And Saturday in FIFA world was fully in football mode with Donald Trump sitting out the second leg of the draw ceremony.