CALLUM DAVIDSON knows what it takes to win in Germany, and the St Johnstone assistant manager is hoping complacency from Scotland's Euro 2016 rivals could be enough to cause another upset.
Davidson was a key member of manager Craig Brown's team that defeated Germany in a 1999 friendly, when Don Hutchison scored the only goal of the game. The Germans were then ranked No.3 in the world and the Scots were billed as cannon fodder.
"What I remember most from that time is the salmon strips we wore," said Davidson, whose international career was restricted to 19 caps by injury troubles at Blackburn, Leicester and Preston. "I also recall setting-up Don's winner. I produced a nice wee cut back for him to tuck away.
"I think it was one of the few times I was that far up the park! It was a surprise result back then but a great win for us. We didn't have the best of records in friendlies and the Germans had some team back then, with Jens Lehmann, Michael Ballack, Lothar Matthaus, Dietmar Hamman and Oliver Bierhoff in the starting line-up. I was up against Oliver Neuville who was rapido. So I stayed back most of the time. Maybe he had been substituted to let me get forward!"
Davidson believes Gordon Strachan can emulate his predecessor Brown by pulling off a surprise win to secure the perfect start to the qualifying campaign for France.
"I think there's a good chance of qualifying if we start well. We didn't do well in the early World Cup qualifiers and that left us with an uphill battle. It would be great for the domestic game if we go on to qualify. But the Poland games will be the big ones I suspect. Despite their midweek 4-2 defeat from Argentina, everyone expects the Germans just to turn up and win on Sunday.
"But it is their first competitive game after winning the World Cup. Hopefully they have a bit of a hangover. Guys winning major tournaments sometimes struggle to get themselves up for the long haul in the next campaign. If you are going to get Germany this is probably the best time to play them. They had a hard summer with the World Cup followed by pre-season with their clubs. So hopefully they will be a bit fatigued.
"Obviously Robert Snodgrass being ruled out is a big blow but Steven Naismith has started the season on fire with Everton and he reminds me of a young Kenny Miller. He works hard on the counter attack and I would imagine that will be the type of game we can expect.
"We are massive underdogs with no great expectations. But we have pulled off great results in the past when we have been in similar situations. We have proved we can get results in these big games."
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