AN already unusual foray to Central Asia took a somewhat surreal twist for Scotland yesterday when the capital city they will play their opening Euro 2020 qualifier here this evening in was suddenly renamed.
Astana no more! New president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has taken the extraordinary step of calling it to Nursultan in honour his predecessor, Nazarbayev of that ilk, who unexpectedly resigned after no fewer than 30 years in power earlier this week.
It will be all change for the national team too as they launch their bid to reach the finals of a tournament for the first time since France ‘98 gets underway this evening; manager Alex McLeish will have a new captain, a new goalkeeper and a new-look starting line-up in the opening Group I match.
Scotland finished the Nations League on a huge high last year when they defeated Albania away and Israel at home to top their section and make sure of a Euro 2020 play-off spot.
However, any hopes of maintaining that form and building on those morale-boosting back-to-back triumphs have been jeopardised by a spate of call-offs and injuries.
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Of the Scotland team that last took to the field at Hampden back in November only five players – David Bates, Scott McKenna, Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and James Forrest - are here for this vitally-important game.
Allan McGregor has retired from international football, Steven Fletcher, Ryan Fraser and Callum Paterson are unable to train and play on the artificial surface and Ryan Christie and Andy Robertson are both injured.
On top of that, Jordan Archer, Barry Bannan, Charlie Mulgrew and Kieran Tierney, none of whom were involved last time out but were included in the original squad, have been ruled out. Elsewhere, Leigh Griffiths and Steven Naismith are also unavailable. It is all far from ideal.
McLeish, though, certainly has complete faith his new skipper Callum McGregor, who he had no hesitation promoting after Robertson and Tierney were both ruled out, being able to inspire his team mates to a victory. He revealed the Celtic midfielder was honoured when he told him he would be donning the armband.
McLeish added: “He has been a pretty phenomenal player in Scotland over the last few years. His consistency has been outstanding. He sets a very good example and is very much a modern day captain.
“He’s not the type of captain to go about snarling at his team-mates and tell them ‘play as good as me!’. He’s a very well respected guy who encourages his team-mates and leads by example.
“I invited Callum to my room for a chat on before we came to the stadium to train,” he said. “We spoke about other things to do with his game and the like. Then I threw it in and said: ‘I’d like you to be the captain for the game’.
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“His eyes lit up. It was a great feeling to be able to say that to somebody. It was just great to see how chuffed he was as the recipient of the good news. It was the same when I told Andy Robertson and big Scott McKenna in Mexico last year. Callum was probably thinking ‘Ooft! Being captain of my country! It’s some honour!’
“He’s just a guy who is a great example to every young footballer in Scotland who wants to be a professional. Every time you point something out to Callum he takes it on board, whether it’s good or bad. He just doesn’t get flustered.
“There have been times when I’ve thought: ‘Hang on a minute, I’ve just given him some stick there,’ I should expect him to say ‘wait a minute’. But he’s such a calm person. Let’s hope he brings that calmness to the team.”
The decision about who should captain Scotland against Kazakhstan was an easy one for McLeish. But who he should play up front in the absence of Fletcher, Griffiths and Naismith isn’t nearly so straightforward.
As he spoke to the media before a training session in the futuristic Astana Arena – or should that now be the Nursultan Arena? – last night it was apparent the manager had still to decide who to field in attack.
He has to choose between Oliver Burke of Celtic, Oli McBurnie of Swansea City and Marc McNulty of Hibernian. All three have different strengths and all three have been in excellent form for their club sides. It is a big call who to go for. Much will depend on how he wants his team to approach the outing.
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“We’ve got to assess all that,” he said. “We’re looking very closely at training. We’ve not made up our mind about the final piece in the jigsaw.
“McNulty has scored seven in seven games or something. McBurnie has 18 goals to his name. So there are goals in these guys. Burke has come to Celtic and he’s got some much-needed confidence back and he was looking really good in training yesterday. I have a bit of food for thought.
“We’ve had discussions already with the coaches and we’ve changed our minds a couple of times on things. We have a big assessment after tonight.”
If Scotland can defeat opponents who are placed a lowly 117th in the FIFA World Rankings it will go a long way towards securing one of the two automatic qualifying spots up for grabs in Group I. But the circumstances which they will play the game in are far from ideal. A draw would not, all things considered, not be the end of the world.
“I think momentum is the key in international football,” said McLeish. “It’s not easy to maintain that. But what we do have coming in are players on very good form for their clubs. The good thing about it is a lot of the players have been together now for a while.
“We are expected to come to places like Kazakhstan and win. We’re ranked about them and that’s the mentality that the players have to get used to.
“The biggest respect they can pay themselves and the Kazakhs is to play to their top level. We have a great spirit within the squad going into this competition so let’s hope we do it justice. Let’s believe we can do it justice. I keep using the word momentum but if we can build that we can be a threat to anybody.”
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