STEVE Clarke last night told his Scotland players to put Euro 2020 qualification “in the cupboard” – and focus fully on securing a place in the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

Clarke’s men ended a 23 year wait to reach a major tournament last week when they defeated Serbia on penalties in the Euro 2020 play-off final in Belgrade.

The dramatic triumph sparked scenes of wild rejoicing in the Rajko Mitic Stadium and among jubilant members of the Tartan Army across the country back home.

However, the national team manager wants his players to forget about their achievement and concentrate on beating Israel in Netyana in their final Nations League match tonight.

Victory in the Diamond Stadium would see Scotland finish on top of Group B2 and mean they may have the safety net of a World Cup play-off place if they fail to reach Qatar 2022 through qualifying.

“The next step for us now is to concentrate on World Cup qualification,” said Clarke. “This can give us a platform. If we can win this group and get promotion to the A groups, it gives us a good chance, a back-up which we already know the benefit of.

“We stopped qualifying for tournaments. It has taken us a long time to get back to qualifying. We don’t want to wait as long for the next one. In fact, I don’t want to wait very long at all. I want to qualify for Qatar 2022 and so do the players.

“It has to be the start of something else. It has to be. The Euros are there, I have told the players the Euros are in a cupboard. Now we forget about the Euros until April. We need to have a good start in the World Cup qualifying.

“Obviously a nice favourable (Qatar 2022 qualifying) draw in December would be great. But then we have three World Cup matches in March, so we can’t get ahead of ourselves. The World Cup is the next target.”

Clarke is set to field a strong side against Israel, who Scotland were unable to beat at Hampden in regulation time in the Nations League in August and the Euro 2020 play-off semi-final last month, this evening.

QPR striker Lyndon Dykes is available for selection after serving a suspension against Slovakia in Trnava on Sunday and Andy Robertson, who sat out that match, is fit.

“Everyone trained this morning and trained well,” said Clarke. “No problem at all with the energy. That won’t be an issue with the fact is that it is another step on the road to the World Cup in Qatar 2022, which is where we want to be.”