There will be few who would argue with Scott Brown's initial assessment of Scotland yesterday.
"I think we know we're not Brazil," the captain said. There will, though, be fewer still who disagree with his assertion that Scotland should have achieved more in Group A.
"On our game, we could be as good as anybody," the Celtic midfielder said. Unfortunately there have been too many bleak nights at Hampden and beyond. "It was always going to be hard from the start, I think. But we did fancy our chances of doing much better than we have," Brown added. Scotland sit fifth in the group, nine points behind tonight's visitors, Croatia.
"We disappointed ourselves early on but we're starting to get to grips with it now," Brown said, in reference to the games against Serbia and Macedonia at Hampden that yielded two points.
Brown, buoyed by victories in Macedonia and Croatia, believes the signs are good for the Euro 2016 campaign. "We're convinced that we can have a right go at it after some recent results," he said.
The record at Hampden in Group A has been dreadful, with no victories recorded. "Of course, there are expectations at home. We know we let ourselves down at home to Wales, which could have been three huge points for us," he said. "We also let ourselves down in Wales - and six points from those games would have put us right up there in the group. Some difference."
But Brown, pictured, believes Scotland have stabilised and is looking forward to tonight's game reinforcing that faith with action. "We've got a new manager in, he's set us up the way he wants and that has helped us a bit," he said of Gordon Strachan. "In the last three or four games, we've done well. I know some of it has been hard - anyone is going to struggle playing against Belgium, who are a great team and are going to do really well at the World Cup. There's the chance to do the double over Croatia, too, which is huge."
Brown relishes the involvement of the manager at training. "He tries to join in bits and bobs, and shows what to do in training, stuff like that. He brings a lot of positives to the game, to the situation, how to play, where we should be and where we shouldn't be."
And does the manager still have it? "Definitely. He's still got a better touch than me . . ."
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