A Scotland team in name only

Published on Wednesday 7 October 2009 22:48

AS SCOTLAND'S preparations for Saturday's friendly in Japan reached new levels of absurdity yesterday, Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith admitted some of the ten players who have now withdrawn from the squad would have taken part if it was a competitive international.

Tottenham full-back Alan Hutton and Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher took the number of absentees into double figures when they pulled out just hours before George Burley and his barely recognisable party of players departed from Glasgow Airport yesterday.

Watford midfielder Don Cowie and Norwich City midfielder Stephen Hughes were hastily called in as re-inforcements, meeting up with the squad at Heathrow Airport for the second leg of their 11,000-mile round trip to Japan.

It leaves Burley with a hugely inexperienced squad of 18 players, including three goalkeepers, for the match against opponents who have qualified for next year's World Cup finals and who are expected to be at full strength on Saturday. Of the 11 players who lined up against the Netherlands only four weeks ago, only three are in this week's squad. Although those who face Japan will play under the name 'Scotland', they can hardly be considered the national team.

Hutton was reported to be carrying a knee injury, while an ankle problem was cited as the reason for the late withdrawal of captain Fletcher. They joined Danny Fox, Robert Snodgrass, Kevin Thomson, Garry O'Connor, Shaun Maloney, Scott Brown and Steven Naismith in pulling out of the original 22-man squad named by Burley. In addition, Dundee United midfielder Scott Robertson withdrew just hours after being called up as a replacement on Tuesday.

The uncapped pair of Cowie and Hughes yesterday joined Lee Wallace, Lee Miller and Craig Conway in being drafted in for a fixture which has now been seriously devalued. Burley had already chosen to omit previous squad regulars David Weir, Graham Alexander and Paul Hartley. Several other players, including Kenny Miller, James McFadden, David Clarkson, James Morrison, Kris Commons and Ross McCormack were not included because of varying degrees of injury. Rangers striker Miller and Birmingham City forward McFadden both played for their club sides at the weekend.

Smith, while again defending the scheduling of the match, conceded that some players had been allowed to opt out of the trip despite being fit enough to play in Yokohama. "There is a scenario with friendly matches where if a player risks an injury the insurance implications are different from those in a competitive match," said Smith. "Certainly, some of the players at a push could play. But when it's a friendly you have to be considerate to everyone."

The Japan fixture was announced six months ago when Scotland were still hopeful it would be a warm-up match for the World Cup play-off ties in November. They remained commercially committed to it despite being eliminated from the World Cup last month.

"It's not as if the game was arranged this week," said Smith. "We wanted a game ahead of a potential play-off and there were no opponents available in Europe, other than the other nations we have just played in our World Cup group." The Netherlands, winners of Scotland's group, are travelling even further this weekend to face Australia in a friendly in Sydney. Norway, who finished second in Group 9, are playing South Africa in Oslo, while Macedonia welcome Qatar to Skopje.

"We wanted quality opposition, which we have got in Japan, and a match which made financial sense for the SFA, which this does," he added. "We decided to take it on a Saturday, so that all of the players would be back with their clubs next Monday morning with minimum disruption. It is unfortunate when you have so many call-offs, but it gives younger players an opportunity in the international arena."

Smith insisted he was not concerned at the possibility of a heavy and psychologically damaging defeat for Burley's makeshift squad. " "You can't fear it in advance," he said. "Our players could perform really well, you don't know what is going to happen. It is a difficult game, but we wanted a difficult game. It has just been made slightly more difficult because we don't have a first-choice squad.

"You can make excuses and George will have to deal with the aftermath. Our job is to get a match. If we had been in the play-offs, then this would have been the ideal warm-up. Japan are a strong team and you judge your players on what opponent they face. It is a worthwhile trip."

Yesterday's call-ups for Cowie and Hughes took the number of uncapped players in Burley's squad to seven. It is particularly untested in the six-man midfield where Blackpool's Charlie Adam, with two caps, is the only man with previous senior international experience.

Cowie, who began his senior career with Ross County, played in the SPL for 18 months with Inverness before moving to Watford in January this year. The 26-year-old, who has not played for Scotland at any level, has been a first-team regular this season.

Hughes, capped 12 times for Scotland's under-21 side while a Rangers player, left Motherwell during the summer to join Norwich City under freedom of contract. He has been a substitute for the League One outfit in recent weeks, but started their Johnstone Paints Trophy match at Gillingham on Tuesday night.

UPDATED SCOTLAND SQUAD.

Goalkeepers. Craig Gordon (Sunderland), Jamie Langfield (Aberdeen), David Marshall (Cardiff City). Defenders: Darren Barr (Falkirk), Christophe Berra (Wolves), Gary Caldwell (Celtic), Stephen McManus (Celtic), Steven Whittaker (Rangers), Lee Wallace (Hearts). Midfielders: Charlie Adam (Blackpool), Graham Dorrans (West Bromwich Albion), Ross Wallace (Preston), Craig Conway (Dundee United), Don Cowie (Watford), Stephen Hughes (Norwich City). Forwards: Steven Fletcher (Burnley), Derek Riordan (Hibernian), Lee Miller (Aberdeen).