Talent is now a bridge across generation gap

Richard Wilson

Sports writer

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Belgium will provide an exacting challenge for Billy Stark's Scotland under-21 side, but also a model to follow.

Billy Stark will use the match with Belguim to ready his under-21 side for their final qualifiers. Picture: SNS

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Richard Wilson

The prevailing theory is that players with ability should move up an age level as soon as possible, so that it is talent rather than date of birth that is the selection criteria. At least half-a-dozen of the Belgian players would still qualify for the under-19s, and although the encounter at East End Park this evening is a friendly, the call-ups are merited.

Stark is aware of many of tonight's opponents already, with Scotland's under-19s having played Belgium twice during the last two years. The squad list offers a testament to their quality, since Thorgan Hazard and Lamisha Musonda are at Chelsea, and the defender Marwick Vermijl is on Manchester United's books. Others, like Dolly Menga, Hannes van der Brujgen and Alpaslan Ozturk, still play in the Belgian league, but are among the next generation of highly-rated players.Scotland are already fast-tracking players. Jordan Rhodes still qualifies for the under-21 squad but is likely to feature for the senior side against Australia tomorrow night. Danny Wilson has also been included in the senior squad in the past, although he will play against Belgium, and exposing players to a higher level of football when their talent is ready, regardless of their age, is becoming an established procedure."If you look at it, we've got some young ones as well," Stark said. "[Lewis] Toshney, [Ryan] Jack, [Jordan] Archer, [Murray] Wallace, [Stuart] Armstrong, [Kenny] McLean, [Tony] Watt, [Cameron] Park are all [born in] 1992 or 1993, and are going to be available for the next squad. That's a good, healthy sign. A lot of the teams are doing that – Belgium, Holland, Germany – I better draw back there, mentioning us in the same breath. But they're promoting young ones when they've shown good potential, to just educate them to the next level. That's not to say they'll stay there when they come up, it's just a wee chance to taste things to see how they get on."The temptation might have been to play less well-equipped opponents, since Scotland's next two fixtures both need to be won and damaging confidence ought to be avoided. Luxembourg and Austria cannot match the Belgians for talented individuals, but they will still test the Scots' resolve, particularly since a place in the Under-21 European Championship play-offs are at stake."We've got Luxembourg at home and then Austria away, and I'm sure they will be very different games," Stark said. "We would expect to dominate possession against Luxembourg at home and we would expect them to be defending in their own half of the pitch and trying to make life as difficult as possible. We need a certain mentality and a certain way of playing to cope with that. If we get three points against Luxembourg we would go into that game with a live chance of qualifying, we'll go into the game against Austria as a cup final, really."With the two Dundee United players, Gary Mackay-Steven and Johnny Russell, joining Grant Adam and Tom Cairney in withdrawing from the squad, Stark has taken the opportunity to promote from the under-19s. Tony Watt, the Celtic striker, has been included after impressing in the NextGen tournament last season, but Stark does not anticipate being denied the services of Rhodes, who has been linked with a £5m to Everton, for the two remaining qualifying matches, even if he impresses against Australia."If Jordan gets a good bit of game time and scores against Australia it might be the last we see of him," Stark admitted. "Craig [Levein] wouldn't say definitively that's him finished with the 21s and neither would I. You take each [game] on its merits. Even when he came on against Cyprus he only had five minutes on the park and he had a shot at goal and a couple of bits of play. "You can come on for five minutes and not get a kick, I've done that many a time – although I've been on for 90 minutes and not had a kick, right enough."

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Talent is now a bridge across generation gap

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