SCOTLAND’S penultimate Euro 2024 qualifier against Georgia a week today is pretty much a dead rubber with qualification for the finals in Germany next summer having finally been clinched with two games to spare last month.
Yes, the national team could theoretically still top their section and find themselves seeded in the tournament draw in Hamburg at the start of next month.
If they win in Tbilisi and defeat Norway in Glasgow in their final Group A outing four days later and Spain drop points against either Cyprus in Limassol or Georgia in Valladolid, they will jump above rivals who are only ahead of them on goal difference.
But their manager Steve Clarke is not anticipating the former European champions and current section leaders slipping up in either of their remaining matches given their recent form.
“You never know,” he said at Hampden yesterday as he announced his 23 man squad for the forthcoming fixtures. “But I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
However, Clarke is still keen for Scotland, who have suffered defeats to England, Spain and France in their last three games, to prevail in both of the “meaningless” matches and halt their losing run.
And he has done everything he can to make sure preparations are perfect for the double header.
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The long journey to Tbilisi, a city where this country’s footballers have suffered ignominious and damaging reverses on their last two visits, will be broken up by a warm weather training camp in Antalya in Turkey next week.
He believes it is the style which his charges must become accustomed to if they are to mix it with the international elite. He will be expecting exactly the same standard of build-up when they go to the second major tournament he has qualified for.
“Nothing changes for me,” said Clarke. “It was nice to qualify early, but the one thing gnawing away at the back of my head is that we are on a three game losing run. We want to stop that and the first chance to do it is in Georgia so that will be the target.
“The most important thing for me is to finish this campaign on a positive note. Two wins would be great from the last two games as we want to finish with as many points as possible.
“In World Cup qualification we got 23 points when we reached the play-off. Take away six points from the bottom seeds and it was 17. It would be nice to better that and say, ‘We have improved again’.
“It would also be lovely to finish on 21 points and push Spain all the way to the end in terms of topping the group. Six points is the aim and it would be pretty good to match Spain’s points total and say that we missed out on top spot to an unfortunate slip by Aaron Hickey in the 90th minute of an away game in Seville.”
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Clarke continued: “We are going to Turkey for a couple of days next week. This was organised before we found out we are quite a good team who could qualify before the later stages!
“We thought these two games would be absolutely crucial so we worked out if we left on the Sunday night, we could get to Turkey and have a couple of days of warm weather training. It also breaks up a long trip to Georgia.
“We are in a very nice hotel, the best one. That was already pre-booked, but it’s also something we should be looking to do anyway. You always want to raise the standards and push the bar as high as you can. If we give the lads the best possible preparation for matches it gives them fewer excuses when they go on the pitch.
“Quite a lot of the boys, when you look at who they are playing for and the level, the training grounds and facilities, the hotels, travel and way they move about, is all top class.”
Clarke and his colleagues at the SFA already have half an eye on the Euro 2024 finals in Germany next summer and the Scotland manager addressed a board meeting at Hampden last week and told those present what he would like first class flights, high quality accommodation and five star training facilities.
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“I spoke in a board meeting last week and, yeah, I asked for everything,” he said. “I’m not sure I will get it, but I asked for it. I didn’t make any promises this time. I was asked a few times. I just replied, ‘No promises this time’.
“We are aware of budget constraints, but it’s my job, and Graeme Jones as head of performance, to try and push as much as we can to get the best possible facilities and travel arrangements for the players,” he said.
“So that it doesn’t feel like they are taking a step down when they come away. We want to push all the time. Obviously the more tournaments you qualify for, the more chance you have of getting those little perks.”
There were several notable absentees from the Scotland squad that Clarke named yesterday – Angus Gunn, Grant Hanley, Kieran Tierney, Andy Robertson, John Souttar and Aaron Hickey were all absent due to injuries.
“The clubs deal with their injury situation,” he said. “I don’t know if they will be fresh because of the time they have had out because everybody is different.
“People talk about the workload and the schedule for the top players, but the top players are used to it. They are used to playing 60 games a season their bodies are tuned go that.
“Some people might benefit from having a couple of months out in the middle of a season. Some might not pick up their rhythm when they get back into it. It’s a hard one to gauge. But I expect them all to be fit for March.”
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