A hospital bed instead of a final session
Scotland told the world in June that Scott McTominay had a stomach bug. The real reason he missed training before the World Cup was far more serious, and he finally explained it at Hampden on Tuesday.
Two days before Scotland opened their tournament against Haiti in the United States, the Napoli midfielder had his heart “shocked” back into rhythm. “I was 100 per cent fit, but when you’re sat in a hospital bed two days before the first game of the World Cup about to get put to sleep, it’s not ideal,” he told reporters.
The problem was a mild, benign arrhythmia. It first showed up after the squad landed in America in early June, and it came back in August once he was back in Italy with Napoli. McTominay played the opening two Serie A games of the season, then decided surgery was the only real fix. He underwent a cardiac ablation in Manchester in September and missed the whole month.
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The low point of his career
McTominay started all three of Scotland’s matches in North America, but he was rarely at his best and the team went home after the group stage. He was careful not to use the heart episode as a shield. “It’s nowhere near an excuse,” he said, describing it instead as part of the process.
The aftermath hit harder than the procedure. He spoke of two or three weeks spent “not quite with it mentally” and called the end of the tournament probably the most disappointed he has been as a professional. For a player who usually sees the glass half full, it took a couple of weeks to shake off.
Back for Pocognoli’s second camp
The 29-year-old missed all four games of Sebastien Pocognoli’s first window as Scotland manager, a spell that produced just one win. He returns now with form behind him: nine appearances for Napoli since the last international break and five goals since coming back.
“I’m feeling much, much better than what I was,” McTominay said, adding that the procedure in Manchester went “really, really well” and looked far scarier from the outside than it felt.
Scotland host North Macedonia at Hampden on Friday, November 13, before closing their Nations League campaign in Switzerland three days later. Rangers left-back James Penrice, called up for the first time, is also in the squad.
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