Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Skipper Robertson has the world at his feet
ANDY Robertson is getting greedy.
The former Dundee United star has won the Champions League, English Premier League and the World Club Championship with Liverpool and captained his nation to drought-ending Euro 2020 qualification.
But the Scotland skipper doesn’t want to stop there. He is quite taken with the prospect of playing at a World Cup as well.
The road to Qatar 2022 starts at Hampden Park against Austria tonight, the first part of a triple header that moves to Israel at the weekend and then back to Glasgow for a clash with the Faroe Islands next Wednesday night.
And for the most decorated Scottish footballer of many years, there is a club and country set to be completed.
“The Euros is a huge competition and to qualify for that is great,” said Robertson.
“But the World Cup is that step up.
“Playing against all the nations of the world – the South Americans, the Africans – would be right up there.
“I suppose we’ve got the monkey off our back, as such, finally qualifying for a major tournament after such a long time.
“Now it’s about building momentum with that. It’s not waiting for as long as the next one. It’s about getting
Scotland back to qualifying for tournaments on a regular basis.
“So, we’re the group of boys who can hopefully do that. But we know how hard it’s going to be and it’s up to us to be able to show our qualities to get into the position to do so.
“It‘s about trying to create a team and a squad and a generation so the nation becomes used to qualifying for tournaments. That’s certainly our motivation.
“It’s OK getting that monkey off your back and qualifying for the first major tournament in 23 years.
“But we don’t want to wait that long again – or anywhere close to that. We want to be successful in a Scotland shirt. We’re in control of that.”
Since the group games leading up to France ’98, Scotland have only won three of their 11 opening matches.
Given the fact that all bar the last campaign have ended in failure (and even that was via a back-door route) the importance of bucking that trend against Austria cannot be downplayed.
“We need to be at our best to beat Austria. They’re the seeds above us and they are a quality team,” said Robertson.
“But now we’ve got a feeling of qualifying for a major tournament, we want that feeling a lot more often.”