SCOTLAND’S players and supporters have badly missed being involved in the finals of a major tournament during the 17 long years which have elapsed since France ’98.
Russell Martin, a player who has been instrumental in the resurgence of the national team under Gordon Strachan, believes Euro 2016 will badly miss Scotland if they are not involved.
The Norwich City centre half is, if fit, a certainty to be involved in a Group D qualifier against Georgia here in Tbilisi tomorrow evening which is of huge importance to his adopted homeland’s prospects of progressing.
The 29-year-old has strengthened his claim to a place in encounters with Germany, Georgia, Poland and Gibraltar and two meetings with the Republic of Ireland which have restored pride in Scotland among fans who had grown disillusioned under previous regimes.
Which countries make it through to France next summer – and manager Strachan has predicted any of the top four sides in the section at the moment, Poland, Germany, Scotland and Ireland, is capable of progressing automatically – is uncertain at this juncture.
However, Martin feels his side have, with the standard of the performances they have produced in their six competitive outings to date and the attacking football they have played, underlined they would not be out of place alongside the cream of the continent.
The defender and his team mates will, then, be distraught if, with just four games remaining, their campaign started to unravel and are determined to claim their first away victory in the group against Kakhaber Tskhadadze’s side in the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena.
“Scotland deserve to be at the finals,” he said. “We certainly wouldn’t show ourselves up. With the fans and everyone else feeling good about us at the moment, we deserve to be there.
“We have got ourselves in a great position to do that. These two games (Scotland play World Cup holders Germany at Hampden on Monday) will obviously have a big say in it. Everyone is just excited to get them done and see where we are.
“Whenever we go abroad, you see how much it means to the fans. In my opinion, we will add to a tournament with what we have in our squad now. With the whole country behind us, it will be pretty special.
“We would add to it as a squad for sure, with what we’ve got. And we’re desperate to show that now. We’ve put ourselves in a great position and we’re desperate to go out there and qualify and show what we’re about.
“We’re a proper team. We’re not about individuals, we don’t rely heavily on one person, we’re a proper team with togetherness and all of that. I think the people of Scotland enjoy watching us play.
“I’ve had loads of people down the road giving us a lot of credit for what we’ve achieved recently in such a short space of time and the way we play and the way we approach games. Under this manager that won’t change so hopefully we can take it to a major tournament and show it there as well.”
There will, of course, be no consolation prize for making a spirited start if Scotland fail to maintain their impressive form in their remaining matches against Georgia, Germany, Poland and Gibraltar; the top two teams qualify automatically while the third-placed team either joins them or goes into a play-off.
Martin, though, is in confident mood. So much so, in fact, that he has not booked a summer holiday next year. He does not anticipate he will be logging onto lastminute.com in a frantic bid to secure a late deal to some sunny clime either.
“I expect us to be in France,” he said. “I believe that 100% and I’m sure everyone in the squad would tell you the same. With the position we have put ourselves in now we all expect to get there, it’s as simple as that. If we don’t we will all be extremely disappointed, but we are confident we have enough in the group.”
Martin is unsure who he will be lining up alongside in the centre of the Scotland defence against Georgia as he has been paired with Gordon Greer, Grant Hanley and Charlie Mulgrew in this campaign and all three players are in the squad.
He believes the 4-2-3-1 system which Strachan always utilises in international matches both home and away means it will be straightforward for either Greer, Hanley or Mulgrew to slot in alongside him.
“I don’t have any preference,” he said. “Grant and I had a good run of games and we did really well, but in the last year it has chopped and changed.
“Charlie and I played together for the first time in Ireland and we really enjoyed it, We are similar defenders in that we like to keep a high line, press people and get on the ball, Gordon Greer has come in as well and done well, so it’s fine. I just want to play and that goes for all the boys. We just want to be in the team.”
“I think the clarity the manager gives us helps. We know what he expects from players in certain roles and in training we always have different players playing different roles so that if someone comes in they know what to expect and what they have to do.
“The lads are all now extremely comfortable with the way we play under this manager and we’ve gotten better and better at it. We are extremely organised. Even in the Ireland game (in a 1-1 draw at trhe Aviva Stadium in June) we went there and got a draw without really hitting the heights we had in previous games.
“That shows we have that resilience as well. Hopefully we will keep growing together as a group and as a team.”
Martin is conscious of the fact that in the past Scotland have had an uncanny knack of performing well against the best countries in the world when the odds were stacked heavily against them only to come unstuck against smaller nations they were expected to overcome comfortably.
However, he is confident history will not repeat itself against a country which is second bottom above only Gibraltar in Group D and which his side defeated 1-0 when they met at Ibrox in October last year.
“This is a different group now,” he said. “In football, whatever has happened happened. I don’t think it has any effect or bearing on what we are going to try to achieve on Friday. Or how we are going to set up. We are all looking forward to it.
“It’s a tough game, no doubt about it. They are under a new management team, away from home, but we are confident in what we have in the group. We are confident we can go out there and get a result.”
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