Ryan mighty as Scots shut up shop
SCOTLAND 1 CZECH REP 0
STEVE CLARKE watched Scotland defy the odds again last night – then insisted his team are now ready for a shot at glory in next month’s Euro 2020 play-off.
Clarke’s side hit the front against the Czech Republic after just five minutes when Lyndon Dykes set up Ryan Fraser to sweep the Scots into a whirlwind lead.
Scotland then defended
stubbornly to cement top spot in the Nations League group ahead of next month’s double-header against Slovakia and Israel with a 1-0 win.
But it’s the play- off showdown in Belgrade against Serbia that comes first on November 12.
Czech coach Jaroslav Silhavy told Clarke after the game that he hopes to see him at the Euro finals next summer.
And the Scots boss has seen enough over three huge Hampden displays to believe his players are now ready for Scotland’s biggest game in more than 22 years.
He said: “We’re as well prepared as we can be going into such a big match against Serbia.
“What we spoke about when we got together for this camp was that we had to beat Israel and go through.
“We managed to do that and on the back of that, rather than talking up the Serbia game too much, we made sure everybody was focused on getting maximum points out of the next two games.
“We did that and have the platform now where we can win the League B section and get promotion to Group A which would be fantastic in terms of the development of the team.
“It would be fantastic for our world ranking and it would also possibly give us a little safety net in the World Cup qualification.
“All those things were really important to us. The confidence is sky high now. There are players who have missed out this month who wi l l be desperate to be involved next month. Then there are the players who have come in out the cold who will be desperate to be involved again.
“I wouldn’t like to be the national coach who needs to pick a squad!”
Clarke admitted his players faced a stiff test against the Czechs who have already qualified for next summer’s Euros – and will be playing at both Hampden and Wembley in the same section that Scotland hope to reach.
The beaming national boss said: “We showed a lot of resilience, with good defensive organisation on the pitch, so, yes, it was a good night. We got a big result against a good team.
“We’ve been working towards this since we lost 4-0 heavily in Russia. We said that would be the low point and since then we’ve started trying to build the confidence, to find a way to be resilient.
“Eight games later we are starting to show that we are improving.
“Don’t forget before that defeat in Russia we had also lost 3-0 and 4-0 to Belgium. These guys are proud professionals and nobody likes to lose that amount of goals. Nobody likes to go on a four-match losing streak.
“We had to slowly repair the confidence. We tweaked the system a bit last month and it’s starting to show signs that maybe it can help us.
“We want to be hard to beat, we want to show that Scottish character. But we also want to have the flair we showed in periods of this game.
“The Czech coach said to me after the game that he hopes to see us here next summer. That was a nice message and it’s a good incentive.
“We know how big the Serbia game is and we are aware of how everyone is going to build it up. We need to be focused, stay calm and work on what we are good at.”