Grant urges Scots to get serious in Euros bid

Coach believes this squad can end long wait for place at major finals

The Nations League offers Scotland a serious chance of Euro 2020 qualification. So there is no chance of it being dismissed as a set of glorified friendlies, according to assistant coach Peter Grant.

Finish top of their group with Israel and Albania and the Scots will have a realistic shot of getting to the Euros through that route – arguably better than through their traditional group that is yet to be drawn.

However complicated the process may seem to the Tartan Army, the formula for the team is a simple one.

“Maybe supporters and many others won’t understand how the Nations League works,” said Grant.

“But the biggest thing, the bottom line, is that we’ve got to put in a good performance every single game.

“You don’t need to know all the ins and outs of the competition – that’s our job.

“But for the players it’s about playing well and exciting the Scottish support, bringing them back through the door. Making sure they want to turn up.

“There’s genuine belief in there we can get back to a competition.”

“Supporters are just desperate to see Scotland get back to competitions – and this is a fantastic chance for us.

“It’s one we’ve said to the players, these are the possibilities you look for in life. You maybe only get the one chance.

“Many, many Scotland teams, many, many top players haven’t had the chance to experience a competition.”

Grant added: “We feel we’ve got a group of players capable of that. Now we’ve got to get the best out of them.

“We need everybody fit and fighting to be a part of it.

“But this can be their opportunity – and we’ve hammered home the message to them not to allow it to pass them by.

“This a real opportunity for this group of players to qualify Scotland for a competition – the first for a long, long time.”

Before the Scots start thinking about Albania on Monday, they face World Cup semi-finalists Belgium at Hampden tomorrow night.

Grant said: “Sometimes you have to build people up for friendlies. You’re playing so-called smaller countries. But not when you’re playing Belgium, a fantastic team. I genuinely thought if Meunier had played in the World Cup semi-final they would’ve got to the final and won it. But he was such a big loss to them.

“They were fantastic to watch, with world-class players. They were everyone’s favourites at the tournament.

“So, now we’ve got a friendly with a nation like that, it’s completely different from your typical friendly.

“The other games after Friday night now really mean something and I think you can see that in the players. They want to be selected. This is competition time.

“Games that count are everything. “Managers want to pull their players out for a friendly. They’ll see it as being ‘only a friendly’, that they’re needed more for the club game the following week.

“But now this is the real business and we want everybody here who is available and fit.

“The Belgium game is an exceptional friendly because you’re playing against world-class players. You’re learning all the time. You have to be able to keep the ball from them, you have to get it back off them.

“We feel that we’ve got that mixture within the group that means we’re capable of doing that because of the clubs they’re playing for and the game time they’re getting.

“It’s not like yesteryear when we’ve maybe had a guy at a big club but who hasn’t had a game for six or seven weeks.

“You can feel a sense that it’s soon going to be competition time again. The attitude in training of the boys has been first class Everybody’s looking forward to the challenge ahead.”

2020 vision from Peter Grant.