JAMES McFadden has warned the Scotland players they won’t be allowed to use the artificial pitch at the Astana Arena as an excuse for failing to get their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign off to a winning start against Kazakhstan here on Thursday.
Neither Ryan Fraser of Bournemouth or Callum Paterson of Cardiff City have travelled to Astana because they are unable to train on Astroturf.
National team medical staff will also monitor both Scott McKenna, who has a thigh knock, as well as Kieran Tierney, who has just returned from a long-term injury, in the coming days.
However, McFadden, the Scotland coach who admits he doesn’t believe international games should be played on plastic parks, has stressed that Alex McLeish’s men won’t blame the playing surface if they fail to triumph in their first Group I outing.
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“I am not a fan of them, I don’t like them and I don’t think international football should be played on them, but we have to deal with it,” he said.
“Any player would tell you they would rather play on grass. Understandably, they don’t have grass here because it is minus 10 or whatever it is. If you are going to play a game at this time of year it would be hard to have it on a grass pitch. But we would rather not play on it. I am not a fan.
“Every player who is here will be assessed if they haven’t been already and we will make a decision on whether they are fit to play in the game. Unless a player or a club or an insurance comes and says ‘we can’t play these players on this pitch’ they are here to play.
“They are here to be available. We won’t hesitate in using them. I understand if they come and they have got knocks. It is much the same as normal.
"We aren’t using it as an excuse. We have to deal with it. Players have played on it. We won’t get an advantage because we have played on it. They will be the same as us.
“But we have to play it. It doesn’t matter. I see Russia have come out and said they aren’t happy about having to play on it. But we are in that group, we have to play them. It doesn’t matter when we play them.”
McFadden has no concerns about the sub-zero temperatures in Kazakhstan being a problem for his side as the futuristic Astana Arena has a retractable roof and will be covered for the match.
“I am led to believe it is going to be 10 degrees with roof closed so we know what we are in for,” he said. “Taps off! We will be sweating.”
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