GEMMILL LOOKS FOR FINISHING TOUCH
SCOT GEMMILL has backed his Scotland Under-21s heroes to finish the job today against South Korea and qualify for the semi-finals of the Toulon Tournament. A poor 1-1 group opener against Togo was followed up by a superb 1-0 win over hosts France courtesy of Oliver Burke’s goal. The Scots are looking to improve on last year’s third place in the event, but head coach Gemmill has told his players to cast their minds back 12 months when they struggled to see off a determined Indonesia after beating Brazil. ‘We had a tricky fixture against Indonesia. It wasn’t easy,’ said Gemmill. ‘We conceded a goal, then Ryan Hardie got us out of trouble with a brilliant finish. ‘South Korea are a very proud nation, too. They’ll be really up for the game. ‘Playing in such a short period of time, the recovery has to be correct. ‘That’s been the challenge for the players, to show they have the intelligence and willingness to prepare and make sure we’ve got what we need to help us get what we want. By that I mean in terms of energy, in terms of the attitude, that all has to remain in place. ‘In the Togo game we conceded after two minutes from a throw-in. The players know — because most of them are playing first-team football — that’s not acceptable. ‘You don’t win matches when you concede goals like that. You have to have the concentration and intensity from the first to the last whistle. It will be the same against South Korea.’