Scott Brown hopes Scotland can get off to a winning start in their first home game of the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign to keep alive his dream of representing his country at a major finals.
The Scots will likely need to beat Georgia at Ibrox tonight if they are to maintain a realistic chance of qualifying for the finals in France in two years' time.
Brown will be 31 years old by that point and revealed an awareness that time is marching on. It will represent a glaring omission on his cv should the Celtic captain never play at a World Cup finals or a European Championships, but he feels that, under Strachan and with Euro 2016 expanded to 24 nations,
Scotland will never have a better chance of breaking a drought that stretches back to the France 98 World Cup. "It definitely bothers me [not having played at a major finals]," he said. "I don't want to look back over my career and be saying: 'If I had only done this, if I'd only done that . . .'
"I think when I was younger I never appreciated it as much as I do now. Looking back on those campaigns, I was thinking: "Oh, we didn't get there again. We're devastated - but we'll try next time. Now I'm starting to think that I might never get there. There are a few people in that dressing room the same age as me, maybe even a wee bit older, who probably think the same way as well: 'We've not got long left in the game, so we desperately want to get to a major finals'.
"We know it's been a long time since France '98. We think we've got the quality to get there again and, with the extra qualifying place as well, that will definitely help. France is definitely the biggest one for us. We all want to try everything to get there, leave nothing out on the park.
"It would mean more to us than anyone in the country. As a Scotland fan myself, I know it would be great for the whole country."
Strachan knows the team that will start against the Georgians but has not told his players, nor decided who will be his captain. Brown, whose appearance in front of the media yesterday suggests he may get the armband ahead of Darren Fletcher, felt naming the side would have been a nigh-impossible task for the manager given the wealth of options currently at his disposal.
"When you look at the squad, it's probably the strongest I've been involved with," added Brown. "It's looking good, training has been brilliant. We've played 11 versus 11 with subs, as well. And you look at the subs and think: 'He could bring on anyone here and still have a strong 11.' So it's looking great. There are players for every position. I was sitting there when the squad got selected and you are looking through it and there are some top quality players, not just one or two.
"It's great for competition, it makes everyone raise their game - and you can see that in training over the last couple of days. It's been a good week, training has been high tempo. Everyone is looking forward to training, playing in the games and doing well.
"It's definitely the best chance we've had to qualify, because it's the best group of lads I've been in. You can see the team bonding. It's not people sitting over here and there in little groups - everyone can chat to everyone. There's a real great bunch of lads. The manager has done a lot, bringing players in, talking to them himself. Those are maybe the little differences that will hopefully get us there."
Brown was coy about whether he would return as captain after missing the Germany game in Dortmund due to injury - "I don't even know if I'm playing" - but revealed it would be an honour were he to once more gain the armband on the occasion of his 39th cap.
"I've got to be honest, the captaincy means a lot to whoever does get the honour. Myself, Darren has been captain in the past, Gary Caldwell, Kenny Miller ... if you ask any of us, it's a proud moment.
"But so is playing for your country, so is winning with your country, getting to a major finals. That's what we all want. It's not about fighting over a captaincy - it's about joining together and being more of a team than ever. Whoever goes out there, we've got a lot of great leaders who want to win."
Brown, who made a substitute appearance in 2007 the last time Georgia were in Scotland, underlined the need to get off to a winning start at home, regardless of how it is achieved. "We'll take the three points, whether it is ugly, nice or whatever. We need to go out there and work as a team to show we deserve the victory.
"We need to show we're getting better and on the right road. Look at what we did against Germany. The lads were outrageously good in the second half. We got the ball down, played good football and I think we shocked the Germans. After 60 or 70 minutes of a game we seem to be hitting our peak, or getting stronger.
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