THE essence of Steven Naismith as footballer and private individual has been distilled from his search to find confidence through sometimes painful experience.
As a schoolboy, he struggled with dyslexia yet performed more than creditably, his innate intelligence shining through his difficulties. As a player, he has taken on the challenge of always embarking on the next step despite the gradient rising steeply before him.
From Kilmarnock to Rangers and on to Everton, Naismith has been sustained by a quiet belief in himself. He knows the importance of confidence in life and in sport and it is why he is candid about what he describes as the lack of belief in a Scotland squad that has stuttered through a World Cup qualifying campaign without recording a win.
Naismith does not shirk from personal blame in a calamitous Group A experience that started with the goalless draw against Serbia. "It sticks in my mind," he says of that match. "If I score with the chance we had then we're 1-0 up and maybe can close the game out. We could have built from there."
Instead, any hope crumbled under the impact of a draw against Macedonia at Hampden and defeats by Wales twice and Belgium before a dispiriting loss in the return match in Serbia.
"This squad is pretty young. In past squads, though, there probably has been a lack of belief," says the Everton forward ahead of Friday's difficult match against Croatia in Zagreb. "It's not intentional. The boys are going out to do their best but when you look at some of the games that were close, maybe if people made the right decision it would have been different."
Naismith explores the fragility of confidence when he recalls the Carling Nations Cup of two years ago when Scotland comfortably dismissed Wales 3-1 in Dublin. "As a team we played some great football that night. We had great team play and scored some great goals," he says. "We had to carry that on but from that point until now we've played in games where we've got beat when things haven't gone our way and it's been a downward spiral."
Confidence evaporates on contact with constant defeat and Naismith admits further pain may follow but the only way forward is through adversity. "We just need to believe we can go up against the best teams. Sure, we may have to defend and ride our luck a little bit. But we have good enough players to go and hurt these teams and that's what we need to get back to. It's about playing as a team and building the confidence game by game," he says.
The rankings suggest a considerable night of toil and trouble in Zagreb for the Scots. FIFA rank Croatia as the fourth best team in the world as the Scots languish in the high seventies. "If you look at other countries we were ranked alongside a few years ago, we're dropping rapidly while they're still up there. The manager is working towards getting us back up there and as players we need to understand that and believe in our ability more than many maybe do," he says.
Naismith, who has 21 caps, knows that belief must be complemented by hard work. Without a top-class game-changer, the squad must be prepared to put in the hard yards to have any hopes of success. The Strachan way has been to bring in double training sessions and to monitor players closely in practice. "He has brought a sports scientist in," says Naismith. "He wanted to see where everybody was in terms of their fitness. He also said he knows our fitness could vary because some of the boys have been off since the end of the season. The training has been a lot more intense."
The match experience of Friday will be testing, too. "Their forwards are really strong. Their midfield is good and they like to bomb forward," says Naismith. "Their right and left backs are almost like wingers when they are attacking. They are all comfortable on the ball so they will play the risky pass into the centre midfielder when he is under pressure. He goes from there and that makes them the team they are."
All this does little to raise the communal confidence. But Naismith also points out that Strachan is a resourceful coach who has enjoyed excellent European campaigns with Celtic and is not a personality who will advocate an all-out defensive policy. Given the frailties exposed in the campaign and the likelihood of an inexperienced back four facing the Croats, Strachan can not adopt a siege mentality. His best players are in forward positions and he must relieve the inevitable onslaught with at least the hint of counter-attack.
Naismith will be crucial to this strategy but accepts Zagreb, at best, can only offer hope on the journey to France 2016. "It's got to be all about the next campaign. This one has been a disaster and we need to use this time wisely," says Naismith "Could there be some pain before we see some gain? There might be. We hope not, but there might be."
Naismith is sustained by a personal confidence but is not inured to reality.
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