SCOTLAND LEGENDS
One-off game gives us upper hand after Dutch double-header horror in 2003 play-off says Gary
GARY NAYSMITH insists Scotland at Hampden is a fixture to be feared by World Cup rivals as the play-off paths from Europe to Qatar 2022 are determined today.
Steve Clarke’s side are at home in a semi-final on March 24 and could host a final five days later, depending on this afternoon’s draw in Zurich.
Former Hearts and Everton defender Naysmith, who made 46 appearances for Scotland, wishes the games were being held next month.
For the Scots are hot off a sizzling sixmatch winning streak that rounded off Group F, capped by beating Denmark 2-0.
Naysmith insists that victory should make potential opponents wary of being drawn to play in Glasgow.
Scotland and Wales are seeded along with Italy, Portugal, Russia and Sweden so they are guaranteed to be at home in the first phase of the fixtures.
Poland, North Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, Austria and Czech Republic are possible visitors to Scotland for a semi.
Naysmith said: “Those nations look very evenly matched. If those teams played each other both home and away in a group, everyone would beat each other.
“There’s no standout from the six you’re desperate to avoid. But one of the biggest compliments I can give our players right now is that I don’t know if those teams will relish Scotland away.
“Because if Scotland can replicate the level of performance against Denmark, one of our best for years, we have a really good chance of beating any of them.
“With 50,000 at Hampden, they might want to avoid that after how we played against Denmark.
“We’re in a good place. I’d like to think Scotland players look at it and be confident, on current form, that we could beat whoever we’re going to play at home.”
One-legged play-offs for Euro 2020 worked in Scotland’s favour as Israel were beaten at home then Serbia away – both in nerve-shredding penalty shoot-outs.
Naysmith believes that suits the Scots because, if pitched against a superpower such as Italy or Portugal in a final next spring, it would be too tough to oust them on aggregate over two ties.
The Edinburgh City manager was part of a Scotland team that beat Holland 1-0 at Hampden in a Euro 2004 play-off, only to suffer a six-goal thrashing in Amsterdam.
He recalled: “We knew that most of the country thought, ‘Ah, it’s Holland. We wanted to avoid them.’
“You can look back now and wonder if we got carried away, as a team, when we won the first game.
“Give Holland credit, Dick Advocaat made changes for the second leg, bringing in Wesley Sneijder who was only 19.
“They just blew us away. I wish it was one-leg ties back then! Beating a top nation over two legs is always going to be very difficult for Scotland.
“Against one of the elite we’d need the level of performance we got against Denmark. We’ve shown we can do that on a one-off.
“We’ve hopefully lots to look forward to. The important thing is home draws.”
The thrilling defeat of Euro 2020 semifinalists Denmark saw Scotland create a
seven-point gap back to Israel and Austria in the qualifying section.
Clarke’s men are the on-form team of a dozen UEFA hopefuls and Naysmith hopes there are no fallers from the camp before the spring.
He said: “I don’t want to put too much pressure on the lads but it looks like we’ve clicked into gear.
“We’re like a club team that didn’t start the season too well but flew into the play-offs at the last minute.
“You watch leagues every year, teams come out of nowhere. We’re that team. We’ve gone slow and got better and better. Then bang.
“We’ve got continuity. To be honest, we really wanted these games in December!
“A lot can happen in four months, players get injured or lose form. Although we’ve a strong squad, that will be Steve’s worry.”
The kindest outcome for Scotland on FIFA rankings looks like a meeting with North Macedonia.
Now without retired talisman Goran Pandev, they just held off Romania to clinch second place in an average section behind Germany.
But they beat the Germans 2-1 away last March, thanks to Pandev and 22-year-old Napoli star Elif Elmas, before a historic appearance at the
Euros. Naysmith said: “They’re the least well known and 90 per cent of Scots would want to play them.
“But they did well in the previous competition to reach Euro 2020. And they beat Germany.
“They’ll have good technical players, be able to handle the ball and did well to finish where they did in the group.
“I remember playing a qualifier in Macedonia, they beat us 1-0 in incredible heat back in the day.
“We’re quite familiar with Austria and the Czech Republic after playing them recently but I’m not sure if I’d want that or a fresher challenge.”