STUART McCALL has called on Scotland to ensure that no qualified player escapes the country's grasp and opts to turn out for another nation in the future.
The Scotland coach, speaking as an injury depleted squad gathered in Erskine to prepare for the World Cup qualifying match against Croatia on Friday, said: "It irks me when I see the likes of [Aiden] McGeady, [James] McCarthy and Ray Houghton before them playing for the Republic. Any player we can get, we have to make sure we get them, and that is going down as far as 15 and 16-year-olds. "
It was confirmed yesterday left-backs Danny Fox, of Southampton, and Lee Wallace, of Rangers, will both miss the match in Zagreb with Motherwell's Steven Hammell drafted in as the only replacement. Gary Caldwell of Wigan Athletic, Scott Brown and James Forrest of Celtic and Liam Bridcutt of Brighton and Hove Albion, were all earlier ruled out through injury.
There was a further scare yesterday when Blackburn Rovers' Grant Hanley was seen nursing an ankle injury but McCall said: " He rolled his ankle in the first couple of minutes of training and he's had ice on it. He'll be fine to train."
The Motherwell manager insisted Scotland had to be more exhaustive in the recruitment of players. He conceded that there was some irony in his remarks given that he was "an Englishman who played for Scotland" but added: "We have to get the right players. We must make sure we have the chance to get them in because we haven't got a vast pool to pick from and need the best players we can. Every little helps. "
McCall refused to be drawn into the controversy over the retirement from international football of Celtic's Kris Commons. "We've got to concentrate on the boys who are here. There's no greater honour than pulling a shirt on and playing for Scotland," he said.
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