Kenny Miller admits World Cup qualifiers will be last campaign for Scotland

Published on 17/08/2012 00:00

KENNY Miller has revealed these World Cup qualifiers will be his last campaign for Scotland.

The former Old Firm striker sat out the 3-1 friendly win over Australia after manager Craig Levein allowed him to settle in at Vancouver Whitecaps, his new club.

Miller, 32, is now playing in MLS and has serious competition for his Scotland starting spot from prolific Huddersfield Town goalscorer Jordan Rhodes.

The ex-Hibs, Wolves and Cardiff City forward – who has netted 16 goals in 60 games – admits Brazil is his last chance to play at a major finals after making his international debut 11 years ago. Miller said: “Looking at it realistically, this will probably be my last campaign, and what better way to finish it off than with a World Cup in Brazil.

“We’re hoping this World Cup qualifying can be the time we end the long barren spell. That’s the one thing, when you start out as an international player, you want to make it to a finals, whether it be a Euro or a World Cup.”

Miller has had plenty of near misses of qualifying as a Scotland player. And he’s sick of not making it to finals. He admitted: “It’s no excuse because we’ve had a long time without reaching a major finals, but if you’re being honest, in the last campaign we had Spain in our group. Best team that’s ever lived. Incredible. So we’ve got to top them to qualify directly and that’s just not going to happen. We finished second to Germany eight years ago in the Euro 2004 qualifying and we got Holland in the play-off. We beat them at home then got spanked 6-0 in Holland. We were unfortunate we came up against Holland. This year, the Czech Republic went to the Euros and we should have beaten them and been in the play-off. The Czechs got a penalty in the last minute at Hampden and we should have had a penalty right after.

“For Euro 2008 qualifying, we were in a group with Italy and France. We beat France home and away and come up against Italy in a winner-takes-all game at the end. It’s 1-1 in the 90th minute and the guy assaults Alan Hutton in the corner and a free kick was given against us and they scored. It’s tough. It’s tough.”