Had things been different, the somewhat pointless mid-season friendly featuring Calvin Ramsay and Lewis Ferguson could have been that in Atlanta rather than Diyarbakır.
Leaving Aberdeen for destinations football deems more glamorous has instantly juiced their chances of featuring for the national side.
But it is equally true that Aberdeen is a club which punches above its weight in the production of compelling players at this level.
The pair were among five members of last night’s Scotland squad who have gone from teenage Pittodrie striplings to the international arena, not to mention any role Ryan Christie’s loan spells may have played in the leaps forward in his career.
Scotland caps haven’t always been a guarantee of quality, but there were no turkeys on this teamsheet. This effective former players meeting demonstrates the continuing strength of Aberdeen’s pathway system.
What opportunities will remain for youths growing in Cormack Park?
Hence it is somewhat ironic that the club itself should simultaneously have found itself partaking in a glorified works kickabout between departments of head office.
For it is demonstrable that, since the Dons came under the Atlanta umbrella, they have made less use of resources made in Aberdeen than at any time in the club’s history, regardless of what it may have said in the brochure.
With a chairman prepared to sanction a wider than ever casting of the recruitment net, and a substantial quota for its landings, what opportunities will remain for the youths growing in the park bearing his name?
Received wisdom may say that space will always be found for those good enough, but the truth is often that we do not realise how good youngsters will become until they’ve been given those chances.
That certainly was the case for all Scotland’s current Aberdeen graduates, and to their most obvious successor in Connor Barron; to whom will it apply next?
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