Scotland “might have to suffer” in a difficult Nations League group but assistant manager John Carver is adamant there will be long-term gains as he looks to qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

Scotland visit Croatia on Saturday and host Portugal next Tuesday, having lost their opening matches at home to Poland and away to the Portuguese.

Those September defeats leave Steve Clarke’s side without a competitive victory in over a year and on a run of just one win in 14 matches.

“I think you can see what we’re trying to do,” said Carver. “There’s a clear identity, how we are going to play in and out of possession.

“We continue with that and you’d like to think results will come.”

Two calamitous penalties contributed to a 3-2 loss to Poland at Hampden, while Scotland led at the interval before going down 2-1 in Lisbon.

“We can take so much encouragement from our last two performances,” added Carver. “Nobody expected us to perform the way we did in Lisbon. We should have got at least a draw.

“People thought we were in for a drubbing but we were in the game. We didn’t sit back, we had a go at them.”

While Scotland have reached back-to-back Euros under Clarke, fans have not seen their team at a World Cup since 1998.

Following a disappointing tournament in Germany this summer, the head coach said his main motivation for staying on was to end that long wait.

“We are in a difficult Nations League group but that’s because of the success we have had, getting promoted,” said Carver.

“We might have to suffer now but I guarantee we will be better in the long term for this.

“We know this is an important competition but we have the World Cup draw coming round in December and all of our planning is towards that.

“We might take a bit of pain and hurt but we are looking to the future.

“I will touch on Ben Doak coming into the group and playing against Portugal, playing against Croatia. He will definitely get better playing against better players.”