McLeish wants swagger back

ALEX McLeish wants to bring a “swagger” back to Scotland’s play.

The 77-times capped defender begins his second Scotland reign against a team which inflicted one of the country’s most painful defeats.

McLeish was in the side which lost 1-0 against the unknowns of Costa Rica in their opening World Cup game of 1990.

But the Central Americans are not huge underdogs in the second meeting between the teams at Hampden tonight. Costa Rica recently qualified for their fifth World Cup Finals while Scotland have gone 20 years without making a major tournament.

McLeish feels his team have to regain their bullishness before they can end that exile.

“We want to qualify for the Euros,” he said. “That’s our No 1 goal and we will never have that out of our minds. It’s not something to worry about, it’s something to face head on and embrace.

“We want to get a bit of bravado back into people’s mentality and believe they can compete with the best teams in the world.”

McLeish wants the opposite approach to the attitude that prevailed ahead of that fateful first game against Costa Rica in Genoa.

“I remember it well,” he said. “I don’t think we were at our best, we were maybe a bit apprehensive about losing the game rather than embracing the fact that we have got to win this.We were more scared of losing and I think that edginess was a key factor.

“And that’s what I want our guys to eliminate from their minds, and when they go into games to be gallus if you like — believe in yourself as a Scottish player.”

The 59-year-old added: “I’ve felt in recent years we maybe haven’t had t hat swagger.”

Scotland manager Alex McLeish.