McLean is now preparing to head home, after Scotlandâs fate in a forlorn chase to be one of the best third-placed sides to progress to the knock out stages, effectively ended with Senegalâs 5-0 win over Iraq on Friday night.
Scotland beat Haiti 1-0 in their tournament opener but a catalogue of defensive errors were punished by first Morocco and then five-time winners Brazil, who inflicted a 3-0 midweek defeat.
McLean finished his countryâs group finale against the Samba stars with the armband, after Andy Robertson and John McGinn had earlier departed.
âIâm sure there will come a time in the future when I look back and feel a sense of pride,â he said. âIâve captained my country against Brazil in a World Cup. Thereâs not many Scotland players can say that. But the overriding emotion is just disappointment.
âItâs hard to find the words after a defeat like that. As I say, Iâm sure Iâll look back and be proud but the result is obviously disappointing. Itâs difficult to sum it up. We came here with an expectation of ourselves, which shows how far weâve come.
âBut if you make some of the mistakes we have at this level, you get punished. We did everything we could and certainly worked as hard as we could.
âYou cannot question one lad in that changing room in terms of effort and work-rate. We gave it everything.
âThere are a lot of emotions right now because we wanted to perform on this stage in a World Cup.
âBut frustration and disappointment would be the two main ones. The way our fans have been received has been incredible. They are the best fans in the world â bar none.
âThey deserve to go through to the knockout stages. We wanted to try and do it for them.â
City player-of-the-year McLean insisted any finger pointing was a futile exercise, with Clarkeâs squad not coming up to the mark.
âLook, we were up against tough opposition in these last two games," he said, quoted by the Daily Record.
âBut when a lot of it is your own errors, that makes it even tougher. Thatâs the really disappointing part.
âWhen Brazil take part in the game, you know about it. Individually, they are unbelievable footballers.
âTheyâve also got a lot of experience in there. So you do feel that. When the game opened up a little bit in the second half and we were chasing a goal, you could see their quality.
âUltimately, thatâs the level weâre up against. Itâs a World Cup and Brazil are a top team. Thatâs the level we want to push ourselves towards.
âWe havenât really shown what weâre capable of here. But I think there are times when you also need to be realistic about the level of opposition.
âWeâre not always just going to go toe-to-toe with the best in the world. Could we have done more? Yes, probably.
âBut to think we can go out and press high against some of the best teams in the world and go toe-to-toe? Thatâs unrealistic.
âWe did everything we could and certainly worked as hard as we could.â
Scotland beat Haiti 1-0 in their tournament opener but a catalogue of defensive errors were punished by first Morocco and then five-time winners Brazil, who inflicted a 3-0 midweek defeat.
McLean finished his countryâs group finale against the Samba stars with the armband, after Andy Robertson and John McGinn had earlier departed.
âIâm sure there will come a time in the future when I look back and feel a sense of pride,â he said. âIâve captained my country against Brazil in a World Cup. Thereâs not many Scotland players can say that. But the overriding emotion is just disappointment.
âItâs hard to find the words after a defeat like that. As I say, Iâm sure Iâll look back and be proud but the result is obviously disappointing. Itâs difficult to sum it up. We came here with an expectation of ourselves, which shows how far weâve come.
âBut if you make some of the mistakes we have at this level, you get punished. We did everything we could and certainly worked as hard as we could.
âYou cannot question one lad in that changing room in terms of effort and work-rate. We gave it everything.
âThere are a lot of emotions right now because we wanted to perform on this stage in a World Cup.
âBut frustration and disappointment would be the two main ones. The way our fans have been received has been incredible. They are the best fans in the world â bar none.
âThey deserve to go through to the knockout stages. We wanted to try and do it for them.â
City player-of-the-year McLean insisted any finger pointing was a futile exercise, with Clarkeâs squad not coming up to the mark.
âLook, we were up against tough opposition in these last two games," he said, quoted by the Daily Record.
âBut when a lot of it is your own errors, that makes it even tougher. Thatâs the really disappointing part.
âWhen Brazil take part in the game, you know about it. Individually, they are unbelievable footballers.
âTheyâve also got a lot of experience in there. So you do feel that. When the game opened up a little bit in the second half and we were chasing a goal, you could see their quality.
âUltimately, thatâs the level weâre up against. Itâs a World Cup and Brazil are a top team. Thatâs the level we want to push ourselves towards.
âWe havenât really shown what weâre capable of here. But I think there are times when you also need to be realistic about the level of opposition.
âWeâre not always just going to go toe-to-toe with the best in the world. Could we have done more? Yes, probably.
âBut to think we can go out and press high against some of the best teams in the world and go toe-to-toe? Thatâs unrealistic.
âWe did everything we could and certainly worked as hard as we could.â
