SCOTLAND assistant coach Peter Grant has told the players who have travelled to Peru and Mexico that being involved in the games against the Russia 2018 finalists can launch their international careers.
The national team’s end-of-season tour to South and Central America has been dogged by controversy since it was first announced in January. Several Celtic players, including James Forrest, Craig Gordon, Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney, have been excused along with many of their English-based counterparts, while six players – Stuart Armstrong (Celtic), Barry Douglas (Wolves), Ryan Fraser (Bournemouth), Allan McGregor (Rangers), Matt Ritchie (Newcastle United) and John Souttar (Hearts) – have withdrawn after being named in the original 24-man squad.
But Grant is convinced the players who have crossed the Atlantic can use the friendlies to improve their chances of being involved when the Nations League gets under way in September.
“We said to the boys the other day ‘this could be your first cap, it could be your 100th, it doesn’t matter,’” said Grant. “How did I get my debut at Celtic? Somebody pulled up ill at training in the morning. All of a sudden I had played 400-odd games. I don’t know if I would have ever got my chance if that guy hadn’t pulled up sick on the morning of the game. I hadn’t even trained with the first team.
“I got an opportunity, I did all right and then all of a sudden I had played 400-odd games. Who is to say that won’t happen to somebody that has been pulled in. The manager likes what he has done. He sees him in training and says: ‘Ooh! I like him!’ He doesn’t go out the squad again. That is how it can be sometimes.
“People used to say it’s harder to go out than it is to get in. Very much so. We said to them at the start ‘come here, embrace it, enjoy every moment of it, you’ve earned it, don’t be frightened of it’. We are delighted they are all here. That is all we are interested in – the boys who are here.”
Grant, who won two caps for Scotland, can still recall when playing for your country was the greatest accolade a player could get and is keen for players who are called up by the national team to regard it as such in the future.
“When I was a kid playing football out in the back garden I wanted to be those superstars in a dark blue jersey,” he said. “I remember when Scotland came back from Argentina (at the World Cup in 1978). Joe Jordan lived in Cleland across from my grandfather. I was waiting at his house for him to come back.
“When Joe Jordan came out I thought I had died and gone to heaven. To me, that was the be all and end all, being a Scotland player. It wasn’t being a Celtic player or being a Rangers player it was being a Scotland player. That meant you were the best at what you are doing.
“All the punters were there. It was unbelievable. When he came back I said: ‘Bloody hell! It’s Joe Jordan!’ To us, that was the ultimate, being a Scottish national player. That is why for us it still means everything.
“Playing for the Scottish national team probably doubled the wages you were on back in the day. We know that’s not the case any more. What we want is for them to be excited to train, to enjoy the training and to savour getting the results that go along with it.
“The country hasn’t been at a tournament for a long time, but that is what we want to do. What a chance. It is their chance to try and do that. If you can’t get excited about that you aren’t worth your salt as a footballer.”
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