Scotland World Cup schedule doubts addressed as Massachusetts governor weighs into row over funding

Scotland are due to make their first World Cup appearance in 28 years in their opening Group C fixture against Haiti at the Gillette Stadium near Boston on June 11 before taking on Morocco at the same stadium five days later.

However, the town of Foxborough, where the 64,000 capacity arena is located, is refusing to approve Fifa's licence to hold seven fixtures at the venue until it receives a $7.8million payment for security measures from world football's governing body.

A meeting between town officials and Fifa representatives this week ended in acrimony with no agreement reached ahead of the looming March 17 deadline for a decision to be made.

The Foxborough town board are adamant that no licence will be granted unless all of their concerns and conditions are met. Without a licence, the games cannot go ahead.

This has left the Tartan Army facing an anxious wait for a resolution with thousands of Scotland fans set to descend on the Boston area for the Haiti and Morocco double-header ahead of the final group match against Brazil in Miami on June 24.

However, the governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, has addressed those concerns by insisting she has no doubt the seven games scheduled for the Gillette Stadium will go ahead this summer.

She said: "The World Cup’s going to happen - it is going to be in Massachusetts. It’s going to be great to have people come from all over the world and see our awesome state.

"I know that my team continues to stay in touch with local officials on all of this.

"There’s certainly funding that we’re awaiting from the federal government right now. It’d be a lot easier if the federal government provided the funding that they were supposed to provide.

"That hasn’t happened yet. But, you know, we’ll continue to work through all of this with local officials and all of the relevant parties."