Gemmill hopeful Burke will be fit for Auld Enemy battle
Scotland Under-21 manager Scot Gemmill is hopeful captain Oliver Burke, who is due to join up with the squad today, will be fit to face England on Friday night.
Burke, 20, has played just 35 minutes of football for West Bromwich Albion since arriving at the club in a £15 million switch from RB Leipzig in August after suffering a hamstring strain. His last appearance came as a substitute against Brighton a month ago.
However, the most expensive Scottish footballer in history is finally nearing full fitness as he steps up his rehabilitation with the Baggies.
Gemmill has his fingers crossed that the forward, magnificent in the 2-0 win over Holland last month, will be cleared to travel north today ahead of the mouth-watering Euro 2019 qualifier against the Auld Enemy.
Gemmill said: “Everything is on track and Oliver Burke is involved with his club. The communication has been great with West Brom and we are very grateful to them. They are working to make it happen.
“We’ll wait and see how Oliver is but we are hopeful that he will join up with the squad. That was always the plan. Touch wood, everything goes well and he will join up with us.
“He captained the team in the last game against Holland and he will be determined to join up with the squad for the England game. All the players are motivated. You could see that in our performance against Holland last month.”
Gemmill is adamant Scotland
0 Oliver Burke in action during Scotland Under-21s’ impressive win over the Netherlands last month. must hit the heights of their triumph over the Dutch all over again if they are to have a chance of stunning Aidy Boothroyd’s men at Middlesbrough’s Riverside, with England able to call upon the likes of Dominik Solanke of Liverpool, Everton’s Tom Davies and Leicester defender Ben Chilwell.
He added: “If you look at our game against Holland we did well because everyone did their jobs. They are all good players – but we came together as a team. It was a really strong team performance and it will need to be the same on Friday if we are to get what we want.”
Gemmill believes his side will come up against an England team good enough to cut it at full international level.
Boothroyd also has Premier League starlets like Liverpool defender Trent Alexanderarnold, Crystal Palace’s Ruben Loftus-cheek and Leicester striker Demarai Gray at his disposal and Gemmill has little doubt about the quality of opposition facing his side.
“It’s a great fixture for both teams,” he said. “No matter the age group there is always a sense of occasion when the two teams meet.
“That will be the case on Friday so we’re looking forward to it. Are this England Under-21 side as strong as some full international sides? That’s a very valid point.
“One of their players [Tottenham’s Harry Winks] has just been called into the full squad so that supports that point. So the challenge to the young players here is to show they can get over this hurdle and prove they are [good] enough to go to the next level themselves.
“I don’t see it as a test for them, I see it as an opportunity. They should want to be playing the so-called top seeds.
“It’s almost like being fasttracked if you can show you can play at this level.”
The Scots got their Group 4 campaign off to the perfect start with the win over Holland in Paisley but Gemmill admits there is little point him talking up his team’s chance of repeating that feat against the English if they do not replicate their Dutch display.
The Scots boss – whose team also face Latvia next Tuesday – said: “It’s easy to talk about beating a side like England but you need to find a way to get a result on the day.
“But last month’s result shows the levels the players are capable of reaching and of course that helps with confidence. But they are all good players, playing at a high level so there’s no problem with belief.” Glasgow City captain Leanne Ross says her side must reproduce last Thursday’s performance against Hibernian to give themselves a chance of reaching the Champions League last 16.
The Scottish title-holders play Kazakhstan side Biikkazygurt in the first leg of the last-32 tie in Shymkent today. The game comes less than 36 hours after Ross and her team-mates arrived at the team hotel following an epic 16-hour trip from Glasgow.
Kazygurt are a fully professional side, funded by the government and a rich benefactor, but Ross said: “From what I’ve seen of them, we can definitely match them. Individually they have a few players who could hurt us and they work hard for each other, but our target is to get ourselves a good result to take back to Glasgow next week.
“To do that we need to put in a performance like the one against Hibs on Thursday, when we all worked really hard for each other.”
That outcome, a 1-0 win for City in the top-of-thetable SWPL1 game, makes the Glasgow side favourites to win an unprecedented 11th successive title.