The United States lets itself be invaded by the most charismatic army

BarcelonaOne night in June, the fans of the Boston Red Sox, a popular North American baseball team, understood nothing. Their famous stadium, Fenway Park, was more crowded than usual for a regular league game when the team wasn't performing well and was at the bottom of its division. But on this night, just a few days ago, thousands of fans began to sing Yes sir, I can Boogie, a song by the group Baccara, made up of two Spanish women who made a fortune with some hits in the late 70s. The Red Sox followers understood nothing, but they let themselves be carried away by the good atmosphere and many also began to sing the song surrounded by 10,000 fans of the Scottish national football team, many of whom were wearing the traditional kilt, the Scottish skirt. The United States has been invaded by the Tartan Army, the Scottish fans. An army that always seems to win because everyone lets themselves be invaded when it arrives.

Scotland had not played a World Cup since 1998. It had been almost three decades of disappointment, of seeing the team falter against Moldova or Lithuania. But in recent years it has been improving and was already at the last European Championship. On a cold night in Glasgow, they defeated Denmark in a crazy match and qualified for the World Cup. And thousands of people started looking for money to pay for the trip. Scottish fans are known for following their team wherever they go. And if unfortunately a minority of English fans give their country a bad name by causing fights and riots, Scots never look to fight anyone. Quite the opposite. "It's part of our way of being. The Tartan Army is made up of thousands of supporters, fan clubs, all with a clear idea: we are ambassadors for Scotland. And we want to have a good time and leave a good impression," says James, from Cambuslang, a town south of Glasgow. "For many years now, the Tartan Army has understood that football is for making friends and enjoying. And for helping. For example, whenever we take a trip, we look for money and a charitable cause to help," he adds. In recent years, Scottish fans have donated money and materials especially to orphanages and children's hospitals in Bosnia, Macedonia, and Ukraine. In Boston, where the team debuted by defeating Haiti 1-0, they have donated money to a school for children with special needs in a poor neighborhood of the city.

But Scottish fans particularly stand out for two things: their good humor and alcohol. They drink a lot. They drink too much, surely, but luckily they don't fight. They drink so much that Boston pub owners have told the local press that they have sold more beer than ever before. They have run out of stock, in fact. "In four days we have sold four times more beer than we usually do in the same period of time when St. Patrick's Day arrives," the owner of an Irish pub told The New York Times. "I've been in this business for over 30 years and I've never seen anything like it," added Billy DeCain, general manager of Sam Adams Tap Room, in the city center. Other fans bought at supermarkets to drink in the parks. A video has gone viral on social media where a Boston cleaning worker arrives at a park where the Scots had partied hard and finds that the waste was collected, separated, and inside bags. "These people can come whenever they want!", the man said excitedly.

Since between game and game you have a lot of free time if you are a fan, the Scots have not wasted time. And so, they decided they would go to see a baseball game. The Boston Red Sox, who are not filling the stadium this year, promoted it without imagining that 10,000 fans would show up at their stadium singing songs like "No Scotland no party". The majority of Scots did not understand how baseball works, and the majority of Red Sox fans still do not know who this John McGinn is to whom the Scots were dedicating songs, but it didn't matter. They were all celebrating together.

The population of Boston, where the Scots are to play their second match against Morocco, has fallen in love with the Scots. On social media, a man explained that the house opposite his had been rented by some Scots who at 6:30 a.m., because they had jet lag, had started playing the bagpipes. Many people asked him if this bothered him. In the next photograph, he was already inside the house opposite with the Scots, who, in apologizing for having made noise, had ended up making friends with half the neighborhood. "I now have a free house if I want to go on holiday to Scotland," said the happy man. "The Scottish fans are the best of all. They have been very friendly and passionate, they have supported our businesses, they have gotten to know our community, and they have treated Boston as if it were another home away from home," said the mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu. After the match against Morocco, Scotland will face Brazil in Miami, and Boston will prepare for the visit of the English, curiously.

The imagination of the Scots, however, has set the bar very high. When they discovered that a video that had gone viral years ago of a policeman trying out a park slide had been filmed in Boston, they didn't stop until they found it and slid down it playing the bagpipes. Most statues in Boston's parks have appeared with cones on their heads, proof that citizens from Glasgow had passed through the area, as in that city there is a curious tradition: there is always a cone on the field of the Wellington statue in front of the train station.

The presence of so many Scots has even served to change a law. In the United States, foods containing sheep lung cannot be eaten. And the traditional Scottish dish, haggis, was used for that. The governor of Massachusetts, however, has signed a document that legalizes haggis in her state. A law from 1971 has been modified thanks to the presence of thousands of Scots who arrived singing in the streets "no haggis no party".

A fan who travelled alone explained that to save money he sleeps in a room in a Catholic convent. So he has taught the nuns songs from the national team. Luckily he didn't suggest they sing Yes sir, I can Boogie, the unofficial anthem of the national team for a very curious reason that demonstrates Scottish humour. In 2021, footballer Andy Considine, from Aberdeen, went to a stag party with his family in London and ended up with his father and a friend dressed as women recording themselves in a video where he sang this song. The video went viral coinciding with the national team's qualification for the Eurocopa. And now it is sung every match day.

Match days where bagpipes are not lacking, like the 300 that played on the way to the stadium on their debut day. Scots have a good time asserting their identity, which has turned Boston into a piece of Scotland for a few days. And all thanks to the World Cup. Scotland, by the way, has never made it to the second round of the competition. It's a curse, they always fall in the group stage. If they defeat Morocco, they will be able to advance for the first time. It will be a match where Scotland's national anthem, the Flower of Scotland, will be sung again. When 50,000 Scots sing their anthem, it's moving. Whether they win or lose. North American pub owners are clear that they want them to win and not go home in a few days. If it depends on them, they would reach the final.