It's been one game and already we're hoping for divine intervention.

"We've just spoken to an American in the cathedral who said he was praying," Paul Toop tells The Herald. "He got a message from God saying we're going to win 2-1."

It's a grey and angry looking sky on the eve of the crucial game against Switzerland - lose and there's no realistic chance of Scotland making it through Group A and continuing the party into the knockout rounds.

As is their wont though, the Tartan Army are in high spirits as they fill the bars and squares of Cologne, the 5-1 loss to Germany if not forgotten then at least rationalised.

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By the banks of the Rhine, a large group queue for a boat cruise. Surely the youngest member of the exodus, a small baby in a Scotland shirt, looks around with bemusement as a piper plays the ubiquitous John McGinn song on the bagpipes.

The boat itself is decked out in saltires, as though having been boarded by a benign pirate army.

A boat on the Rhine decked out in saltiresA boat on the Rhine decked out in saltires (Image: Newsquest)

Mark, from Peterhead, says: "The first game wasn't the score we wanted, but hey-ho, we go again.

"We went to Austria-France in Düsseldorf last night and booked the boat this morning for a wee swallie.

"You've got to be realistic, haven't you? But it was an achievement getting here and hopefully the boys can pull their socks in and put in a performance against the Swiss and the Hungarians."

If the streets aren't quite as packed as they were in Munich, it's still a fiesta of kilts and bagpipes, one local woman stopping a man with a Glengarry covered in pin badges to take his picture.

Other residents look frankly bemused as the large crowd boots a football up in the air, ignoring the rain which is falling hard and heavy.

All events, including the two fan zones, have been cancelled today by the authorities after warnings of severe weather including thunderstorms but it'll take more than a little precipitation to stop the boogie.

John Nicol, from Fife, says: "We landed in Prague a week ago and got the bus to Munich for four days, we came up to Cologne and we're here until Friday then we head down to Stuttgart.

"I wish the weather was a bit better, we had tickets for Ted Christopher's gig and the Gimme Gimme Gimmes but it was cancelled because of the storm warnings.

(Image: Newsquest)

"But it is what it is, I'm glad we're here anyway.

"We need at least a draw tomorrow, but I'm not confident any time we play because we need to score goals and we don't have the most prolific strike force in the competition.

"But I'm confident the players will be up for the game, they applauded the Scottish fans for a long time on Friday, I think they felt they let them down. Fingers crossed we get something."

Optimism abounds, despite the perilous situation facing Scotland. Near the cathedral, a man who insists on being named only as 'Chappie' tells The Herald: "We've got nothing to lose now, we're always the underdog."

Fortunately, it seems the Almighty has also given his American voice on earth - or at least in Cologne - the inside scoop on the goalscorers as well as the 2-1 result.

Paul is joined by Phillip Toop and his partner Elaine, they come from the Isle of Bute bearing a flag with their father's face, and at least for now they're believers.

"McTominay and McGinn. We have God on our side."