WILLIE Miller reckons tonight's European Championship qualifying opener against Germany in Dortmund is the first genuine test of Gordon Strachan's reign as Scotland manager.
The former Celtic boss has won six of his 12 matches in charge of the national team, but with most of these either friendlies or dead rubbers, his old Aberdeen team-mate believes it is only from tonight that his impact can be measured.
Miller was on the field that day in Queretaro during the 1986 World Cup when Strachan opened the scoring in a 2-1 defeat against a Karl-Heinz Rummenigge-inspired West Germany. He knows once again that the Germans, freshly crowned as World Cup winners, are the benchmark against which all national teams must be measured.
"All the friendlies are over for Gordon," said Miller. "He won't thank me for saying it but, in my opinion, it has all been friendly matches so far. He is now going into the business end of his job and he's got to get results. He has maybe had his experiments and he now knows a couple of teams and a couple of formations he can put out on the park."
Miller, and Strachan, had their fair share of success against Teutonic opposition during their playing days, not least the quarter-final victory over the mighty Bayern Munich en route to lifting the Uefa Cup in Gothenburg in 1983, or the Super Cup triumph against Hamburg which followed. "The Bundesliga was always the league in Europe back then," he said. "You always felt if you beat the Germany sides then you had a wee chance in whatever European competition you were competing in.
"Nowadays the Bundesliga is once again a superb league," he added. "Their domestic production of young players has been exceptional and they are now world champions as a result of that. But it's a great opportunity for Scotland. Our first qualifying game for the European Championships is against the current world champions and that is a great challenge for both the manager and his players.
"I don't think anyone will be expecting too much from us. Gordon will be hoping for a very good performance and, if they can get anything from the game, then it would be a massive bonus."
Miller was also part of the Pittodrie backroom team in 2008 when Aberdeen met Bayern Munich again on Uefa Cup duty, going down 5-1 in the second leg after a creditable 2-2 first leg draw, with a young Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm included in their squad. While Lahm has retired in the wake of their summer triumph, and Schweinsteiger misses out through injury, Miller feels they have plenty of reinforcements.
"I wouldn't take that as a chink in their armour," said Miller. "I'm sure they have a number of players who can all come in and replace those players. If two or three of our players are off form then it could be embarrassing. But we have been playing very well as a unit and we are going to have to do that over there. If we can do that then there is a chance of going over there and doing themselves proud.
"But if they don't have that unity they could be taken apart. And any team in the world, as their win over Brazil at the World Cup proved, is at risk of being taken apart by this current Germany team if they don't perform well."
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