Craig Burley has said that Scotland "do not deserve to go through" to the knockout stages after they fell 3-0 to Brazil in Miami.
Steve Clarke's men came into this clash knowing that any sort of result would likely guarantee them a spot in the knockout stages, while a narrow defeat may also do the same.
But Scotland were calamitous almost from the outset in defence, with VinÃcius Júnior twice the beneficiary of schoolboy errors from Scott McKenna and Jack Hendry.
By the time Matheus Cunha scored Brazil's third goal midway through the second half, Scotland's hopes were hanging by a very thin thread.
And with three points and -3 goal difference, Scotland may yet qualify for the knockout stages if other results go their way, but Burley, who scored for his country at the World Cup in 1998, does not believe they deserve to.
"I have no problem with Scotland going out, or any of the teams down there, because, I am sorry, I know this is the way the bracket works with 48 teams, but we are just rewarding complete mediocrity," he said.
"They don't really deserve to go through if we are being honest and I don't think they will, barring getting lucky.
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"In fact, if they do go through, I think it is just going to continue the embarrassment of looking like what Scotland are.
"It is kind of second rate isn't it, they just don't have the players, they have got a couple, but they just don't have the players of yesteryear, and I am not talking about the team I played in, although it had some very good players.
"The team Stevie [Nicol] played in had world class players, guys at the back like [Alan] Hansen and others who could not even get a game at times for different reasons but could pass the ball for fun with anyone -- they just don't have that."
As things stand, Scotland will qualify and face Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in the Mexican capital.
But there are 10 current third place teams who are yet to play their third and final match and so that will surely change around a lot.
Should Scotland make it through it would be historic for them, having never made it to the knockout stages before, but Burley insists there should be no celebrations if Scotland do sneak through.
"If they go through, fine, but there should be no celebration if this is the first ever Scotland team to qualify from the group stage, because it is just really by default," he added.
"They might do it but they haven't got much leeway because they are six of eight and I think the likelihood is they will probably get knocked out."
