GOOD GORD, NOW SCOTS ARE BUZZING
SCOTLAND v ESTONIA 7.45pm – Sky Sports 1
STUART McCALL reckons the Scotland camp are bouncing in the run-up to Gordon Strachan’s first game in charge.
The Scots clash with Estonia in Aberdeen tonight after Craig Levein got the bullet for clocking up just two points in their first four World Cup qualifiers.
Ex-Scotland star McCall has been appointed a key man on Strachan’s staff as they look to get back on track.
And he believes the fact that even the squad’s injured stars have pitched up for international duty shows the appetite for success under the new boss.
McCall said: “Everyone wants to be here. There are one or two players with knocks who may not be involved and will have to be monitored who are here.
“But all the players are turning up. That is what you want when you are trying to get togetherness.
Harmony
“Alan Hutton is now playing in another country. It will take him a little time to settle in Spain, but he took three flights to get to Aberdeen.
“Under Craig Levein and his team there were no bad apples. I think there was a sense that there was a strong team ethic.
“Even when Craig departed, a lot of players came out and said that team harmony was not a problem.”
Blackburn hitman Jordan Rhodes hopes Strachan’s arrival can prompt a change of fortune for Scotland.
Rhodes, 22, forced
his way into the international picture under Levein.
And he is optimistic that Strachan’s arrival can finally mark a shift in Scottish luck.
Rhodes said: “When I was watching the games, particularly before I was even involved in the set-up, I was thinking how the outcome can be affected by a roll of the ball here or there, or a decision by the referee.
“I think you can look back and see how many points are decided by the luck of the draw sometimes.
“Hopefully, over the course of a certain amount of games or a couple of years, your luck changes and you do manage to get a goal or two more.
“But all you can do is keep working hard and ploughing on and hopefully your luck does change.”