Griff’s in agony at being home alone
The home nations named their 23- man squads for Euro 2016 last week – and that’s when Leigh Griffiths’s disappointment reached its peak.
En g l a nd , Wa le s , Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are all heading to the Euros – with Scotland yet again on the sidelines.
Hosts France line up against Romania at the Stade de France on Friday as the finals get underway.
A nd t he pa in o f Scotland’s absence from the Euros wi l l hur t just as much for Celtic striker Griffiths.
He said: “When you see the home nations getting their squads together and flying out to France, it then hi t s home just how disappointing it is for us not be there.”
Scotland have spent 18 long years on the outside looking in but will bid to halt that alarming slide in September when they embark on another World Cup campaign.
Gordon Strachan’s side begin their Group F qualifying campaign with a trip to minnows Malta and have also been drawn a longside Eng land, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania.
The Auld Enemy are the big favourites but Griffiths feels the Scots can make a fist of it. He said: “We have to look forward and the World Cup qualifiers get under way soon.
“Hopefully we get a great start and put ourselves in a good position.
“It will be interesting to see what happens. We will be looking to get off to a winning start in what will be a good qualifying group.
“Of course, it wil l be tough. We have Slovakia in there too and they just beat Germany 3-1 during the warm-ups for the finals.
“England are massive favourites to win the group but we’re more than a match for them. On our day we can beat anybody.”
When asked if he could retire happy if he played for Celtic in the Champions League group stages and Scotland in a major finals, Griffiths added: “Yeah that would be good.
“It has been a long time since Scotland has been in a major tournament.”