Clarke’s team in transition are trying to run towards a World Cup before they’ve taken their first steps in the big boy playground of a Euro finals
STRANGE times these and perhaps even dangerous ones for Steve Clarke and Scotland.
They are certainly typically Scottish. What other country in the world could wait 23 years to reach a major finals then, before getting the chance to actually play in it, have to deal with the downer of possibly not getting to the next one?
Just two games into the race to Qatar, Clarke finds himself stuck in the middle of this quite extraordinary set of circumstances.
A team in transition before its time.
Attempting to run towards a World Cup when it hasn’t yet taken its first steps as a proper grown-up at this summer’s Euros.
Boys in a rush to become men. International football’s inbetweeners.
And it’s up to Clarke to find a way of letting them grow.
Which is why Sunday’s rather depressing draw in Tel Aviv seemed to sum up the state of play where this team’s development is concerned.
On the one hand, Clarke’s players looked ready, willing and capable of taking the game to Israel and trusting in their ability to prevail.
On the other, they slipped quickly back into their shells during a first half that started brightly enough but ended with flashbacks to an age-old inferiority complex.
A more aggressive, assertive approach after the break salvaged a point but if what we are watching here is a journey of discovery for Clarke and his players, then the next five months are likely to be make or break.
Put it this way, if these draws against Austria and Israel can be turned into wins next time out, Scotland’s hopes of qualifying from Group F will look a great deal better than they do right now.
“Yes, I like that way of thinking because it’s absolutely correct,” said Clarke as he attempted to get his own head around where Sunday’s result has left him. “Four points from Israel and Austria would put us in a very strong position and that’s exactly what we’ll look to achieve.
“But people have to remember this team of ours is still growing. The more experience the players get, the better they’ll be.
“The next round of World Cup matches is still five months away from now and we can do a lot more growing over that time.
“We’ll have at least three matches to play in the Euros and hopefully maybe even more. So this team will grow again before we return to the World Cup campaign and that could be hugely significant in terms of our development.
“There has to come a moment in time when we believe we are good enough to go and take points from the pot one teams and hopefully that’s going to be the case in this campaign.
“I believe the players are good enough to do that already but they have to believe more in themselves.
“If they grow more over the next few months and prove to themselves what they can do at the Euros, then we might be in a very different place when the World Cup qualifiers come back around.”
Trouble is, it feels a bit like baby steps in the meantime.
Clarke’s organisation and pragmatism are precisely what got Scotland this far but he will stand accused of being overly cautious if his team continue to function as they did for so long the other night, with the handbrake still on.
Clarke went on: “It’s just the way things are. Everybody gets a wee bit carried away in the heat of the moment.
“Everybody wants to judge things in that instant but that’s not the way I look at things. From our perspective, it’s going to be a long group and there are lots of points still to play for, starting with the Faroes on Wednesday.
“If we get to the end of the first week with five points from our first three games, then we can all sit down, look at the table and take stock.
“Don’t forget, Denmark now have to play Austria so something has got to give there. Let’s not get involved in knee-jerk reactions.
“Let’s wait and see how the table is looking when the first round of games is over and then we will be able to see what we have to do.
“It was one point more than we managed to get the last two times we have been in Israel, so let’s take the positives from that.
“It was a good performance in the second half and once again the players showed character to get the goal and get back into the match. But if we are going to improve the way we want to, then we need to be good enough to get a grip of these games from the start and score the first goal ourselves. That’s what I’m looking for.”
A thumping win is now required to restore some excitement around Clarke and his squad.
And so the imminent arrival in Glasgow of cannon fodder Faroe Islanders is nothing if not timely.
Tomorrow night then feels like a moment for Clarke to send his side out there and let them be all the men they will ever be.
And yet one look at what Luxembourg did in Dublin on Saturday, beating the Republic of Ireland 1-0, might well send a shiver down his spine.
Clarke said: “You have to understand that these teams are now far better organised and more difficult to break down than they used to be a few years ago.
“Just look at the problems Spain had against Georgia.
“I’m told they needed a winner in the 93rd minute, so that just goes to prove that all these games are difficult.
“Then you just have to look at Slovakia drawing 2-2 at home to Malta the other night.
“The Faroes also took the lead against Austria, so we know we can’t afford to take them lightly. But, at the same time, we understand it’s a game we have to win.”
ISRAEL & PRESENT DANGER