Scotland carefully manage fitness of duo ahead of World Cup - and surprise debuts not ruled out
Hickey and Gannon-Doak have their minutes set in Curacao friendly
Steve Clarke has confirmed Aaron Hickey and Ben Gannon-Doak will both play 45 minutes as Scotland aim to ensure an upbeat Hampden send-off against Curacao.
The Scotland manager is set to exercise caution given the challenges ahead and the fact that he started training this week on Tuesday with just 14 players. Another seven were “drip fed in” on Thursday.
Five players, including Scott McTominay, arrived only on Friday night. They will not feature against Dick Advocaat’s side, who are also World Cup bound.
The need to supplement numbers is one reason why Clarke invited four youngsters to join the squad.
Tyler Fletcher of Manchester United, Dundee’s Luke Graham and Hearts pair James Wilson and goalkeeper Liam McFarlane have been training at Lesser Hampden all week. Dunfermline forward Andrew Tod was also called in on Thursday.
Clarke revealed that one or more of these temporary recruits could even see action against Curacao in front of a buoyant Hampden crowd. The match has been advertised as a World Cup farewell before the 26-man squad leaves for an acclimatization week in Florida on Sunday.
Clarke anticipated making 10-11 changes throughout the 90 minutes, including “four or five” at half time. Although all five Under-21 players called up this week will be stripped for action, the manager stressed that the friendly against a team ranked 82 in the world is not being treated as a training game.
“They will all be in the squad and if they are in the squad then they’ve got a chance of being on the pitch for sure,” he said.
Clarke is celebrating a double personal boost: a new four-year deal and induction into the Scottish football Hall of Fame. But the manager had his business head on as he pondered all the factors impacting his team selection. Scotland have another friendly against Bolivia scheduled for next Saturday in New Jersey.
Several players, including Hickey and Gannon-Doak, are being eased in gently after lengthy absences due to injury. Clarke accentuated one positive.
Scotland players are fresh
“They’re certainly not coming in tired, that’s for sure,” he said. “They’re definitely fresh. Hickey and Gannon-Doak have come in after prolonged spells out with injury.
“Both of them will play 45 minutes on Saturday to try and build them in. Hopefully when we go to the Bolivia game in New York, they’ll get an hour. It’s just to find a way to help them prepare to be ready for the first game.
“But across the three games in the tournament, it will be difficult to expect Aaron and Ben to play 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes.
“That would be silly to think like that. Our job is to work out how fit they are and they’re all at a really good level. We’ll do that again in America to see which ones can handle the heat better than others, which is important.
“I know people think we’re twiddling our thumbs when we pick the squad but we actually do a lot behind the scenes to make sure these players get to the games in the best possible condition. That’s what we need to do if we want to be successful in the tournament.”
Clarke stressed that every player in his 26-man squad, even those perceived as being included principally for experience reasons, should expect to take part at some stage in the World Cup. At 19, winger Findlay Curtis is the youngest in the Scottish party heading to America but the Rangers winger, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Kilmarnock, has already made his international debut in the 1-0 friendly defeat against Japan in March. He is likely to earn his second cap against Curacao.
“He’s absolutely buzzing to be in the camp and he deserves to be there because he’s shown towards the end of the season that he can have an impact in games," said Clarke.
“Everybody who goes has to be ready to play a part in the squad because you don’t know how many injuries you’ll have.
“The conditions in America will mean it’s a squad World Cup. It’s not a case of picking the same team. I’d imagine every nation will use 16 players across each game. Every nation will take two, three or four rotations between matches because conditions will be extreme for a cold weather country like ourselves.”
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