The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Brown’s feeling in pink for Scotland
Premiership: Celtic captain raring to go despite Rodgers highlighting challenges of staying fit
Celtic captain Scott Brown will make himself available for selection for Scotland’s WorldCupqualifier against Slovenia at Hampden on March 26.
The Hoops midfielder retired from international football last summer to prolong his club career but returned to national duty in the 3-0 defeat by England last November.
Brown then claimed he would assess his fitness for internationals game by game.
The 31- year- old feels fresh and ready and said: “I enjoyed the last game, even though we got beat 3-0. I am proud to play for my country. I enjoy it and I thought against England we did quite well. The last 20minutes were always going to be hard, but we created chances and could easily have scored goals, but it just wasn’t our day.
“I have managed to maintain a standard of training and playing at a good level and I don’t want my form to dip due to me going away with Scotland. But this is huge for me. If I can continue my form until the end of the season it is not too bad a shout but, if not, Gordon Strachan and I know what will need to happen.
“If I found this game was too much for me that would be it. It would be back to square one and retirement again. We are going to take it one game at a time and see how it goes.”
Staying fit is a task Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes is becoming more challenging for his players after highlighting poor challenges on them in recent weeks.
Rodgers labelled the challenge by Motherwell’s Ryan Bowman on full back Kieran Tierney last week as horrendous and was also unhappy about the tackle Caley Thiste’s Iain Vigurs made on midfielder Scott Sinclair in the Scottish Cup tie on February 11 which the Hoops won 6-0.
Brown believes the problem is Celtic are giving teamstherunaroundas the champions try to extend their unbeaten domestic run since the start of the season to 32 games against Hamilton Accies at Parkhead today.
Brown said: “It is just tiredness more than anything and hopefully that is the case for the players that left their foot in that little bit too late. I think it shows how fit we are. We have a lot of the ball, we are trying to keep possession and tire teams out because teams are defending deep.”
“I enjoyed the last game despite losing. I am proud to play for my country”