Celtic’s Euro stars to lead Gord’s World Cup charge...
GORDON Strachan is set to call on Celtic’s on-form Champions League heroes to spearhead Scotland’s bid to reach the World Cup finals.
Strachan, the former Parkhead manager, has been delighted to see the Scottish champions excel during qualifying for Europe’s premier club competition.
Brendan Rodgers’s side look poised to book a place in the lucrative group stages for the first time in three years against Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Israel tonight.
They lead their hosts 5-2 after an astonishing performance in the first leg of the play-off in Glasgow last week.
Strachan has named Celtic players Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths in his squad for the opening Russia 2018 qualifier against Malta next month.
And he appears set to hand them key roles in that Group F match in the Ta’Qali Stadium on Sunday, September 4, and in the forthcoming qualifying campaign.
“The best way to deal with international football is to get more players into European football,” he said. “If we get more players playing in European football, that’s better for us. We’ve got Griffiths, Tierney, Forrest and Gordon there. It definitely helps them.”
Strachan was working at the first leg of the Champions League play-off between Celtic and Hapoel Be’er Sheva as a pundit for BT Sport and was delighted at the performance of Leigh Griffiths.
The striker scored two – to take his tally in Europe in the 2016/17 campaign to five – and set up two to increase his chances of being named in the Scotland starting line-up against Malta next month.
THE 25-year-old has been repeatedly overlooked by Strachan, who has preferred to play Steven Fletcher up front, despite Griffiths’ impressive strike rate at club level.
But Strachan said: “His current form is terrific. Form goes up and down. So we’ll have to have a group ready for anybody who steps out of form so someone else can step in.
“I think he’s been improving in the past two years. The big one for me was the first goal (against Hapoel) with the header where he made up eight yards on someone when he only needed to go two yards.
“That’s hunger. That’s bravery. I see that in his movement in the box now. Look at his heading in the past two years. That’s improving.”
Strachan is looking forward to having Robert Snodgrass, who was sidelined during the unsuccessful Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, available to play in attack as Scotland try to reach the Russia 2018 finals.
The Hull City man, who was out for nearly 18 months with a dislocated kneecap, has started the season brightly and helped The Tigers win their opening two matches in the Premier League in England.
“That’s terrific,” said Strachan. “Anybody who is playing at the highest level is terrific.
“I’m delighted he’s back and he looks good. He’s the type who make it all worthwhile. I’d love to send people like him off to the world stage.”
Snodgrass’s Hull team-mate Shaun Maloney was one of the stars of Scotland’s Euro 2016 campaign – but he has been surprisingly omitted from the squad for the Malta match.
Strachan said: “He needs games. I spoke to him and he understands.
“He was terrific in the last campaign, but the last campaign goes back two years. The game has to move on, it can’t stop.
“There were guys who were mainstays and there could be somebody completely different now.
“And you’ve got to go ‘what’s the best shape for the ones who are playing well at the moment and who are the future?’”
Strachan has warned that Scotland face a difficult game against a Malta team who gave Italy a difficult match in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.
“We’ve been watching them over the past month on video and live,” he said.
“Italy only beat them 1-0. They are hard to play against. There’s two or three good players in there. I can’t remember having an easy game at all.”