Scotland have learned from their previous experiences at major tournaments and have what it takes to get the points against the Caribbean islanders.

Steve Clarke’s side come into the match buoyant and with a strong sense of positive momentum after comfortable victories against Curacao (4-1) and Bolivia (4-0).

Indeed, Curacao provide a common opponent, with the fact that they won 5-1 against Haiti last November an indication that the Scots can break their run of nine major tournament games without a win.

A whopping 83% of Scotland’s qualifying matches brought over 2.5 cards, with much of that due to the style that Clarke’s side play with.

They commit a high foul count but also win a high number of free kicks. Each of their qualifiers produced at least 22 fouls; Haiti are even more prolific in this regard.

Their qualifiers averaged 27.2 fouls and 3.1 cards. Scotland’s matches saw an average of 4.34 cards.

The upshot is that referee Mustapha Ghorbal will have ample opportunities to book players. He averages 3.63 cards per match this season.

Now Scotland’s undoubted talisman, McTominay, had at least one shot on target in five of the six qualifiers.

His role for the national team is as a box-crashing central midfielder, but he’s shown on plenty of occasions for Napoli this season that he can also shoot effectively from range.

Both of these attributes will make him central to the challenge of breaking Haiti down.

He has had at least one shot on target in his last six internationals, having managed one against Bolivia in the 4-0 win last weekend.

Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor is a late convert to Haiti but will be the player who carries the bulk of their attacking threat in this game.

The 25-year-old is a player who is certainly not shot shy. He was by a street the Black Cats’ most prolific shooter in the Premier League last season, leading the Wearsiders in terms of 43 despite featuring in the equivalent of only 12.9 games.

He averaged 3.32 shots per 90 in England’s top flight.

Although he only had 2 touches in the opposition box against Peru in Haiti’s latest friendly, he managed two shots, underlining his willingness to have a go.

Philadelphia Union midfielder Jean Jacques led Haiti in fouls during the qualifying phase for the competition with 17, which were racked up over his nine appearances.

This is certainly no exception for him. Across his career, he has averaged well over 1.68 fouls per 90 in league play.

This season, he has tidied up his act a little in MLS but still posts 1.25 fouls per 90.

Against Scotland, he will likely be up against Scott McTominay, who won 10 fouls (1.67 per 90) during the qualifying phase, Lewis Ferguson (1.2 fouls won per 90) or even John McGinn (3.0 fouls won per 90).

Scotland manager Clarke may have the reputation as a dour pragmatist, but his Scotland team are better going forward than they are at the back, and they will want to display that against Haiti.

It’s a fact that’s been evident in many of Scotland’s recent international fixtures, with their last eight games producing 29 goals at an average of 3.63 per game.

Of these fixtures, six have yielded at least three goals, with four of the last half dozen producing at least four goals. Haiti’s last two warm-up games have both yielded 3+ goals.

Scotland expect to be on the front foot in this game, and that territorial dominance is liable to lead to a significant corner count.

Across their friendlies this year and their World Cup qualifying matches, they have averaged 5.1 corners per game. In their most recent fixtures, when they have shown a more enterprising style, this figure has notably risen.

They have hit at least seven corners in three of their last four matches. Haiti, meanwhile, faced an average of 4.6 corners in their qualifying matches, which were against sides weaker than the one they will come up against in Foxborough.

Not necessarily a player who has a reputation for getting a high volume of shots, Christie’s role for Scotland has evolved into a more attacking one over the course of the last year, and that has led to him offering more of a direct goal threat.

This has been underlined by the fact that he has scored in three of his last six international starts. Indeed, Christie has had seven shots on target across his last seven games for Scotland (6 starts).

Featuring off the left wing against Bolivia and Curacao, he totalled three efforts on goal in these games and notably took a penalty against the CONCACAF side. 

Delcroix will find himself in a head-to-head duel with Scotland striker Che Adams, so while he is not a particularly prolific free-kick winner, the fact that he is up against someone prone to giving away fouls makes him a strong bet here.

Adams committed nine fouls in qualifying at a rate of 1.84 per 90. Delcroix, meanwhile, has picked up a free kick in two of his last five internationals but also in five of his last nine league appearances in Switzerland with Lugano.