UK Edition
Alex McLeish digs deep into Scotland's talent pool ahead of Euro 2020 qualifying opener in Kazakhstan
After flying for 3000 miles and through six time zones, Alex McLeish and his Scotland squad believed that they would open their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign in Astana. Not so – because with scarcely 24 hours’ notice, they discovered that they will now meet Kazakhstan in Nursultan.
The change in venue, however, should not be unduly disruptive for the simple – if wholly unexpected – reason that the Kazakh capital city has been renamed in honour of Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was previously president for life but whose wholly unforeseen decision to quit has left him with the reduced status of ‘people’s hero’, ‘hero of labour’ and ‘leader of the nation.’
It was a reminder that, even to those inured to the contortions of Brexit, politics can be as capricious as football. McLeish himself has experienced some of the sport’s vicissitudes over the past week or so, beginning with the decision of the Rangers goalkeeper, Allan McGregor, to quit the international scene the night before the squad was due to be announced.
When the manager revealed his pool for the double header against the Kazakhs and San Marino, it was noted that he did not have any strikers who had scored at this level. Steven Fletcher, with 10 goals from 32 appearances, was omitted because of ‘ongoing fitness issues’ but on the following evening played and scored for Sheffield Wednesday.
Fletcher later revealed that he had taken an injection in order to appear for his club. Meanwhile, an injection plus associated dental treatment put paid to the chance of Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson, making an appearance.
That should have resolved McLeish’s dilemma over the fact that his two best players operate in the same position. Celtic’s Kieran Tierney was set to move across from his improvised role at right-back – until he reported a hip problem, which rules him out of tomorrow’s fixture.
Jordan Archer, Barry Bannan and Charlie Mulgrew all withdrew prior to the squad’s flight from Glasgow, while Callum Paterson and Ryan Fraser will not play in the opening qualifier because of the artificial surface in the Astana Arena which, by kick-off, will presumably have been rebranded as the Nursultan Arena.
In Robertson’s absence, Callum McGregor will wear the captain’s armband on his 10th appearance for his country. “Over the past few years Callum has shown tremendous ability on the field but also he is a very good ambassador of football on and off the pitch,” McLeish said.
“He’s an unfussy player and nothing seems to bother him. He is a great example to the rest of the squad in his professionalism and I believe the players will respond to Callum being the skipper for this one.”
Southampton’s Stuart Armstrong, a former midfield partner of McGregor at Celtic, reinforced the manager’s belief when he said: “It’s disappointing to have Andy out but I think the squad as a whole is a good one in terms of depth and Callum is taking on the captaincy. I have played with him for many years so I know his abilities as a leader and the team has a lot of respect for him.
“He is very organised. Sometimes you play with players who are natural leaders on the pitch who spur the team on, not so much vocally but naturally with their play. Callum is definitely one of those players. He has a lot of respect in that sense.
“He is very good technically too. The team are delighted that he is going to be leading the nation, as it were. It's a great honour for Callum.”
McLeish was guarded about his likely team selection but it would not be a surprise if he chose Scott Bain from the group of equally inexperienced goalkeepers – three with a single cap each – because of his recent steady form for Celtic. Stephen O’Donnell is the most obvious right-back, assuming McLeish starts with a back four and, if Graeme Shinnie is asked to play at left-back, it would make sense for his Aberdeen clubmate, Scott McKenna, to be in central defence, probably alongside John Souttar of Hearts.
The absence of any strikers who have scored for Scotland presents a conundrum but it looks like a choice of Oli – Burke of Celtic or Swansea’s McBurnie. The latter, though, has been the recent victim of illness and seems more likely to be on the bench.
This is Scotland’s first ever meeting with Kazakhstan, who are rated 117th in the world rankings and who have a new manager in Michal Bilek and a 20-year-old Rostov midfielder - Baktyar Zaynutdinov - who has caught McLeish’s eye.
Whatever the city or stadium might be when the teams line up, the name of the game for Scotland is simple – live up to a superior world ranking by getting the qualifying campaign off to a winner.