SCOT GEMMILL has challenged his new generation of tartan teens to hit the heights of last year as Scotland return to the Toulon Tournament.
Gemmill’s starlets made waves at home and abroad when they defeated Brazil 1-0 at last season’s youth football showpiece courtesy of a solitary goal from Kilmarnock’s Greg Taylor, who would go on to be named the fourth-best player at the tournament.
After escaping a group including the Seleccao, Czech Republic and Indonesia, Scotland were ultimately defeated by eventual winners England in the semi-finals.
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The next derby at Celtic Park will likely see those dressed in blue squeezed into the restricted view area of the stadium.
Nevertheless, Gemmill is adamant that batch of kids proved their mettle at international level - and is desperate for his new-look squad, boasting 13 fresh faces, to do the same.
He said: “We want to capture that same intensity. The group that went last year, approached it with a real tournament attitude.
“Of course, that should be there every time you play your country, but that isn’t always the case when you have young teams and the possible inconsistencies that you get.
“We want to recapture that determination we had - that intent not to be beaten and not concede goals, the willingness to run 14 kilometres in 38 degree heat! Last year, the Scotland players answered all of those questions.
“We need to do that again. We have 13 new players and that is the challenge for them; to show that they can be trusted to play at this level.”
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Scotland face the unknown quantities of Togo at the Stade de Lattre on Sunday before a onerous clash against France three days later. Their final group game will be against South Korea next Saturday.
Chelsea wonder-kid Billy Gilmour and Hearts Chris Hamilton, both just 16 years of age, have been included alongside more established names such as West Brom’s Oliver Burke, Rangers defender Ross McCrorie and Killie ace Taylor.
And Gemmill is adamant the experience of crossing swords with the elite in their age group will be invaluable as they chase their dream of following the likes of Oli McBurnie, Lewis Morgan and Chris Cadden - all part of Alex McLeish’s squad to play Peru and Mexico - into the senior set-up.
He continued: “Even though we can all agree on a young player’s potential, you never quite know how they will react to this opportunity. Some will grab in and grow, some might fall away.
“It doesn’t matter how experienced you are in youth development or coaching, until you give them the experience, you never know. They are the ones that have to step up.
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“It is vital to amass tournament experience and, more than that, to play against good international teams. It’s about chunking up all their experience until they get to a point where they are given a chance in the senior side.
“Those opportunities have come for the likes of McBurnie, Morgan, Cadden. John [Souttar] had to pull out through injury, but he was there too.”
Burke travels to Toulon on the back of a miserable campaign, with the most expensive Scottish footballer of all time having endured relegation with West Brom just 12 months after joining the club from RB Leipzig.
Gemmill confirmed that he held talks with senior boss Alex McLeish regarding whether he would be part of the makeshift senior squad that will face Peru and Mexico, before the decision was made that he should go to France.
But Gemmill is adamant EVERY player in his squad has something to prove, not just Burke.
He added: “You could apply that [frustration] to a lot of players, in some context or other. It’s about them using this experience and opportunity in some way, whether that’s Oliver Burke’s situation, or Craig Wighton and Mikey Johnston, who have been injured.
“Then you have guys like Billy Gilmour and Chris Hamilton. They can all use the tournament for something.”
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