THERE are at least two aspects of international football that perplex and irritate interested parties.

The first is the rule whereby one qualifies to play for a country. This is so wide-ranging that experts state it is almost impossible not to qualify for a country of choice. Julius Caesar, for example, qualified for Scotland because he was the Roman in the gloamin'.

The other contentious area is the international friendly which club managers regard with the same respect they accord to dog mess on their designer sandals.

Both these aspects - the qualification and the very existence of the challenge match - collided yet again to very little effect at a chilly Hampden last night.

The most recent born-again Braveheart is the sprightly Matt Ritchie who has discovered his homeland at the advanced age of 25.

The tolerance of Gordon Strachan for any activity that has not a defined purpose is limited. He is a manager who knows friendly matches can only offer a restricted view of what his team has to offer.

He is a personality born to competitions and hardened by it. The phoney war of friendlies thus tests his powers of finding a purpose amid the inevitable welter of substitutions.

He will have found last night the usual cocktail of limited satisfaction and education.

The result, everyone always choruses, is not important. For the record, Scotland won 1-0. The performance was decent, though by circumstance and tradition it never threatened to be more than that. The great friendly, after all, is an oxymoron. The great half-time drink, in contrast, is an Oxo cube. But I digress.

The Scotland manager did not. He stuck with his fluid 4-2-3-1 system that is highly unlikely to be employed against Gibraltar where Scotland could employ two designated strikers, instead of the lone son of Shrewsbury in Steven Fletcher.

In Ritchie and in probably Craig Forsyth, Strachan started with two players for the future, but not almost certainly for the immediate future of Sunday against Gibraltar.

The Bournemouth wide man was progressively impressive, managing a fine, deep cross in the early moments of the match and continually making runs into the box. He also flashed a shot wide in the second half. It was not quite the debut of dreams but not one to offer him a sleepless night of regret. He more than earned another chance.

Forsyth was largely untroubled. He is a candidate for an area where Strachan and Scotland need reinforcement. The only other natural left back is Andrew Robertson and Forsyth did enough to press a gentle claim for inclusion.

More importantly the defence as a whole emerged unscathed. The central defence has already proved a problem for the national manager and is one of the reasons he plays the double lock of two midfielders directly in front of what once were quaintly called centre halves.

It was here that Strachan may have found purpose in an evening almost designed to deny him it. Darren Fletcher gained his 67th cap and the manager would have been glad to see his eminent midfielder back to his bustling, commanding best.

Much was made of Strachan's dilemma over who to choose as his captain what must have troubled the former Celtic manager more was the apprehension that Fletcher had run his race as an international player.

Mercifully, recovery from illness allied to the rejuvenating effects of a move to West Bromwich Albion has restored the 31-year-old to Strachan's plans. He was excellent last night, fetching and carrying the ball from an unstretched back four and setting up plays with short, sharp passes and the occasional long diagonal to the ever willing Ikechi Anya.

There have been times of late in a Scotland shirt when Fletcher has looked off the pace. Last night, though, was a captain's performance in that he both led by example and was at the base of all Scotland's promptings.

He will be reunited with Scott Brown of Celtic, his rival for the armband, on Sunday and if the question over who will be captain is as yet undecided the influence of this duo will be crucial. If Brown offers the drive, Fletcher will bring the composure and the craft.

If Strachan's present as a Scotland manager received a warming encouragement from such as Fletcher and from a win, then he will have felt the chill of the ghost of Lennoxtown past as Paddy McCourt, once his player at Celtic, shuffled on to take part in a game that was so increasingly resembling a training match that one side should have worn bibs.

The lessons were becoming less obvious as the match progressed though Christophe Berra's headed goal from a corner showed Scotland can be potent at the setpiece.

Fletcher, Steven of that ilk, retired to the bench after another game where he came close to scoring only six years after scoring his last and first goal for Scotland.

Jordan Rhodes ambled on to press his case for Gibraltar. But he was to embody the truths of modern international football. The Scot born in Oldham is a bustling testimony to the flexible rules of eligibility.

But as he ran with enthusiasm but with little effect, he was also evidence of the quiet futility of the international friendly. He, Strachan and Scotland may find Sunday more to their liking.