Still waiting for an outbreak of World Cup fever in the USA - Susan Dalgety

We did spot a display of official merchandise in a sports shop in downtown Atlanta. It consisted of a few key rings and half a dozen baseball caps bearing the legends: Por (Portugal), Mex (Mexico), Ita (Italy), Bra (Brazil) and Eng (England).

There was no Sco for Scotland sadly, but then neither was there a USA cap, which was somewhat surprising given Atlanta is hosting some of the early games.

Later, in a CVS pharmacy – Boots meets the middle aisle of Lidl – we came across official FIFA T-shirts and huge plastic gold chains with a replica of the World Cup hanging off the end. Think Mr T of the A-Team or Jay-Z at his most outrageous.

These hip hop pendants were so over the top I was almost tempted to buy one for our eldest son, Sean, whose love of the Scotland squad extended to him once mounting a giant wooden Saltire on the front of his house.

His long-suffering wife, Karen, had to arrange for the house to be re-rendered to persuade him to take it down.

In the end I didn’t put one in my basket, but we still have a week to go before flying home, so who knows…his 50th birthday falls just a few days before the World Cup final and it would look the business over his Scotland strip.

It is highly unlikely that Steve Clarke and his squad will make it past the group one stage, but one result is certain, the good folk of Boston and Miami, where Scotland will play their first (and perhaps only) three games, will be won over by the Tartan Army.

If there is ever a competition for football supporters, then the lads and lassies who follow Scotland around the world deserve to win it.

But as the BBC recently reported, the average cost for a Scotland fan to travel to the USA for the round one matches is a whopping £7675, so the vast majority of Scotland fans – even ones as fervent as Sean – will have to watch the tournament from the comfort of their sofas.