SCOTS PLAN DUTCH FRIENDLY

SCOTLAND are in talks over a glamour friendly with Frank de Boer’s Netherlands side in the Algarve as one of the final warm-up games for the Euro finals. Steve Clarke has confirmed plans to play a couple of friendlies in preparation for the national team’s first appearance at a major finals in 23 years. Talks over a game with the Republic of Ireland in Spain have been shelved after the FAI confirmed plans to play Hungary and Andorra instead. The SFA are now weighing up a number of options, with reports in the Netherlands claming a meeting with the Dutch in Faro in June has been pencilled in. SFA sources say the game is just one of the possibilities on the table, with plans subject to Covid approval from the Scottish Government. A final decision is expected next month. Meanwhile, Clarke wants his players to use the Euro finals to prove they can mix it with the best. Winless in four games since prevailing in a play-off in Serbia in November, their hopes of reaching the World Cup finals in Qatar already hang by a thread after back-to-back draws with Austria at Hampden and Israel in Tel Aviv. Insisting it’s too soon for knee-jerk reactions, Clarke says his side are a work in progress. ‘Four points from Israel and Austria (home and away) would put us in a very strong position and that’s exactly what we’ll look to achieve,’ said the Scots boss. ‘But people have to remember this team of ours is still growing. The more experience the players get, the better they’ll be. ‘There has to come a moment in time where we believe we are good enough to go and take points from the Pot One teams and, hopefully, that’s going to be the case in this campaign.’