FOR nearly all of Gordon Strachan's 21 months in charge of Scotland his opening words to Darren Fletcher have not been the ones he wanted.
The usual relationship between manager and captain has been disfigured for this pair by the ulcerative colitis which removed Fletcher from action and even threatened his career. Instead of being able to tell Fletcher to do this, or ask him to do that, or find out what his view was on one thing or another, Strachan's first gambit usually has been to ask how he was getting on in his battle with that horrible bowel condition.
The answer - happily - is now "much better", as it has been for months. Fletcher has appeared in all of Manchester United's Barclays Premier League games under Louis van Gaal. The new manager has drizzled stellar signings into Old Trafford but also quietly selected Fletcher as Wayne Rooney's vice-captain. The 30-year-old faces the toughest challenge yet to see regular action in the Old Trafford midfield, given the arrival this year of Angel di Maria, Ander Herrera, Danny Blind and Juan Mata, but he has been a consistent presence for United throughout a decade of being questioned and often disparaged.
For as long as he is a semi-regular for United, he will almost certainly be a first pick under Strachan. Alan Hutton was selected even when he was in the wilderness at Aston Villa and Fletcher's professionalism and attitude means he is even further up Strachan's street. Fletcher has 62 caps for Scotland but has only been available for one of the 12 games under Strachan. But it did not need the second half of the friendly against Poland in Warsaw six months ago to illuminate Strachan on what his team had lost through Fletcher's prolonged absence; he had followed his high-profile career closely enough to appreciate that from the start.
"I think it'll take him another couple of months to get right back to his best," said Strachan of the man who will resume the captaincy which was held by Scott Brown in his absence. "But what he's doing just now is more than good enough for Van Gaal so I'm happy with that. He's getting a game regularly for Man United. No matter if they're playing well or not, the coach is saying to him 'you're playing'.
"Darren was with us in Poland but I've spoke with him a lot since then. Does he fit into my plans? Listen, he's a good player and I fit around them. He's got so much experience too and everybody looks at him and says 'he's played Champions League football all his life'. He's also a great example when it comes to dealing with people. He's got that thing I've seen from people who have worked with Alex Ferguson. He's respectful of people about him. He's also got that thing that if you're standing in the tunnel with him you're thinking: 'I'm glad I'm on your side'."
That tunnel moment should not be underestimated. In those final moments before emerging in the bearpit of Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, the Scotland players will glance across at a truly formidable set of opponents. The German midfield against Argentina in midweek was Christophe Kramer and Toni Kroos behind Andre Schurrle, Marco Reus and Julian Draxler: the first two of those started the World Cup final, the third came on as a substitute, the fourth would have played had he not been injured, and the fifth was on the bench.
Scotland have had their moments against reigning world champions. They beat England at Wembley in 1967 - a fact which has not exactly gone unrecorded - and defeated Argentina in 1990. "Can we do it again? Yeah," said Strachan. "Will we do it? The odds are 16/1 according to the telly."
The bookies' price suggests Scotland face an insurmountable hurdle but Strachan has dealt with that before against Germany. One of the most iconic moments of his decorated playing career came against West Germany in the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico. Scotland were in a "Group of Death" with Denmark, the Germans and Uruguay. Having lost to the Danes they took a shock lead against West Germany when Strachan whipped a shot across goal and inside the far post. It was a fine goal, but it is remembered for what happened in the following few seconds. Strachan wheeled off in celebration until he reached a perimeter advertising board, where he made a joke of his own height by planting his outstretched leg on top of it rather than jumping over.
"That was great. Even this week it was funny. I saw a huge big hoarding board at training and Ikechi Anya was sprinting towards it and jumped it. That was something I only thought about doing in '86. Anya leapt over this huge advertising board like it wasn't there! I've never seen anything like it. With me, I'd seen players do it throughout the World Cup and I said to one of our lads 'if we score and do it, knowing our luck, there will be a moat on the other side'. We were laughing about ending up six feet down in a moat.
"So when I scored I thought I'd have a look and check. Obviously there wasn't one . . . but I wouldn't have made it over it anyway."
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