SCOTLAND have to adopt Plan B in tomorrow's potentially decisive World Cup tie at Ibrox, having failed to persuade FIFA to overturn their decision on Gary McAllister's one match suspension. The faxes were still humming between Glasgow and Zurich yesterday, but it appeared to be a one way system.

The ruling body simply failed to respond to the Scottish FA's (SFA) plea that the Coventry midfielder should sit out the forthcoming match against Estonia, the one for which he was originally banned.

Craig Brown, the national team manager, had decided long before FIFA or his employers, however, that his captain would be unavailable and has proceeded on a sound assumption since the squad assembled on Wednesday.

While the SFA still held false hopes of hearing good news from Switzerland last night, Brown said: "We don't want to get bogged down in pettiness. If he's suspended, he's suspended and we'll get on with firming up a team we believe can win a vital match."

Brown had harboured the suspicion all along that, if the Estonia match were to be re arranged, he would have to do without one of his most influential players. Now it seems likely that Craig Burley of Chelsea will step into the McAllister role.

It is in midfield and defence that Scotland have been most effective during Brown's three years, and the loss of the injured Stuart McCall of Rangers compounds his problems in the middle. His choice of replacement for McCall, the anchorman who normally allows McAllister and John Collins to forage further forward, lies between two players who are relatively new to the position.

Billy McKinlay of Blackburn and Paul Lambert of Borussia Dortmund are the candidates. Lambert has played well in a defensive midfield role since moving to Germany earlier this season and probably has the edge on McKinlay, even if he has only four caps to the Blackburn man's 18.

Brown also has a selection dilemma in attack, where Bolton's John McGinlay, Darren Jackson of Hibernian and Billy Dodds of Aberdeen vie for two places. McGinlay has scored three times for Scotland and has been hot with his club this season. Jackson broke his international duck in the last match, in Latvia, and, even at 30, seems to have improved this season. Dodds, however, has made similar progress and has 17 goals for his club. McGinlay may be first pick, with either of the others his starting partner.

Sweden, who finished third in the 94 World Cup, have not reproduced the form since, failing to qualify for Euro 96 and losing their last match, at home to Austria. They top group four by virtue of having played one more match than the Scots, with victories over Latvia and Belarus.

Their normally prolific striking partnership of Martin Dahlin and Kennet Andersson have been the most significant disappointments. The Swedes retain a formidable look, however, and none among the capacity 50,000 crowd at Ibrox should make any assumptions of victory.