THE WORLD’S AT YOUR FEET
closer to a World Cup play-off spot this week.
His side faces Slovakia today and Israel on Wednesday in two vitally impor tant Nat ions League games.
Scotland need just three points to finish top of the group and take a huge step towards potential qualification for Qatar 2022.
Clarke said: “It ’ s important we refocus now for the World Cup.
“I interrupted the players’ celebrations the other night to have five minutes of serious chat.
“I reminded them that we’ve qualified for Euro 2020 – but we can park that one in the cupboard.
“It gives us something to look forward to but now it’s about Qatar in 2022 and we want to be involved in that too.
“We know better than anyone how important these Nations League games are. It gave us the route to Euro 2020.
“That started in 2018 with Alex McLeish. I sent Alex a text to thank him because he started it and thankfully we managed to finish it in Serbia.
“But it’s important we harness this momentum and qualify for the next one. The core of this squad can hopefully take in another qualification. That has to be our aim.”
Reaching the Euros will also have a positive financial impact on our game, guaranteeing that around £10 million will go into the SFA coffers at a difficult time when they have had to make employees redundant.
Clarke hopes his side’s achievement can help to safeguard jobs at Hampden. Asked if he felt that pressure going into the Serbia game, he said: “It wasn’t something that was on my mind but I was aware of it.
“Everyone knows that financially this is a very difficult time. The SFA has already taken out a £5million loan to try and help with get t ing through this pandemic.
“The fact we qualified means there will be some revenue coming in.
“It will probably be too late to save some of the jobs, which is a shame, but maybe it will stop future redundancies.”
Clarke wi l l make changes to his team to face Slovakia, with skipper Andy Robertson a major injury doubt.
The likes of Liam Palmer, Scott McKenna, Liam Cooper, Greg Taylor and Stuart Armstrong could all feature.
But Clarke revealed his biggest injury worry is assistant coach John Carver who tore his calf during Thursday night’s celebrations in Belgrade!
He said: “The effort on Thursday was huge, so I’m going to have to make a few changes.
“I will speak to certain players about whether they are good to go again. The biggest doubt is Andy. He had a tight hamstring and we don’t want it to become a torn hamstring.
“The worst injury is actually John. Someone jumped on his back at the end of the game and unfortunately his calf exploded.
“He is hobbling around but he is putting a brave face on it.”