LEWIS Stevenson, the Hibernian left back, is set to make his Scotland debut in the end-of-season friendly against Peru here in Lima tonight.
Stevenson has never been capped by the national team due to the presence of Barry Douglas (Wolves), Andy Robertson (Liverpool) , Kieran Tierney (Celtic) and Lee Wallace (Rangers) in his position.
But the 30-year-old has enjoyed an outstanding campaign at Easter Road and was named in the original 24-man squad for the trip to South America by Alex McLeish earlier this month.
The defender has impressed since arriving in South America and McLeish is poised to name him in his starting line-up for the match in the National Stadium.
“It is very likely Lewis Stevenson will start,” he said. “He has had a good season and he has showed up well in training.”
The game here this evening will be Peru’s final warm-up match on home soil before Russia 2018 and is set to be watched by a sell-out crowd of 45,000.
But McLeish is unconcerned by the lack of senior players in his squad and has urged his players to savour the occasion.
“We are inexperienced compared to the other team,” he said. “But it is not always the experienced team that will triumph.
“We are going to have to work a wee bit harder, we have certainly got to concentrate. It will be a bit of a learning curve for the players.”
Charlie Mulgrew, the Blackburn Rovers centre half, is set to captain his country for the third time and McLeish believes he will be important player.
“I wouldn’t say Charlie is a father figure,” he said. “But he has got a calming nature about him. He knows when to get into them and he knows when to soothe them.
Meanwhile, McLeish confirmed MLS pair Sam Nicholson and Danny Wilson are unlikely to join the Scotland squad for the game against Mexico in the Azteca Stadium on Saturday.
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