Gasping for a win in Mexico
● Players might need oxygen at side of pitch during friendly clash at the Azteca
Scotland manager Alex Mcleish says “no stone will be left unturned” in preparing his squad to perform at high altitude in Mexico City next month.
Oxygen tanks may even be provided at the side of the pitch for the friendly, as Brazil did when facing Bolivia in La Paz last year. At 7,400 feet above sea level, Mexico City is more than 4,000 feet lower than the Bolivian capital but there can still be issues with mild shortness of breath, increased fatigue and feelings of nausea.
Mcleish, who yesterday named his squad for the end of season tour, recognises that his players cannot avoid the effects of a city that also has problems with smog.
In order to limit exposure to the higher altitude, the squad will not travel from Peru – where they play on Tuesday 29 May – until the afternoon before the game at the Azteca Stadium on Saturday 2 June.
Mcleish said: “If players need more oxygen or whatever then of course there are going to be facilities there.
“The performance guys have done their homework and it looks like we can’t be in Mexico City two or three days before because you don’t acclimatise in that time. It’s more a case of arriving the day before, playing the game.
“According to what Graeme [Jones, SFA performance chief ] has been told by players with experience of playing at altitude in the MLS and other sports in Mexico City, the best preparation is just to arrive the day before.
“The altitude can make you lethargic and feel one-paced, that kind of thing. A lot of the South Americans, when they go to Bolivia and the likes, seem to suffer. We’re doing everything we can preparation wise. Mexico looks as if it could be the harder fixture of the two in terms of acclimatisation.”
Mcleish maintained he has not named a “weak” squad, despite making “concessions” in omitting five Celtic players – Kieran Tierney, Leigh Griffiths, James Forrest, Callum Mcgregor and Craig Gordon – after two years when the club has played “a lot of football”.
Mcleish is also without Andrew Robertson, who will be preparing for Liverpool’s Champions League final against Real Madrid on 26 May, when Scotland fly out next Friday. The 24-man pool includes three new call-ups in John Souttar, Lewis Stevenson and Lewis Morgan and seven uncapped players.
Mcleish said: “Do I think these guys can cope instead of the guys missing? Absolutely, 100 per cent. I feel confident about the players we’re taking.
“They’re a warm-up act for two World Cup teams. It looks as if they are going to have two big parties but we want to spoil them. It won’t be easy with the altitude in Mexico and the heat in Peru. We will essentially need two teams and can’t play a high pressing game.
“It was all done before I came in so we’ve got to embrace this. We want to get results but we know the bigger picture is the [Uefa Nations League] games in September.”
A day arrived for Lewis Stevenson yesterday that he must surely have thought would not, could not, ever come. A first Scotland call-up at the age of 30 for the Hibernian left-back marked the biggest surprise of the squad named by Alex Mcleish yesterday for the end-of-season friendlies in Peru and Mexico.
In recent years, Stevenson’s potential for international recognition appeared to have become more remote than the Amazonian jungles that Scotland will fly over en route to Lima for their Peruvian friendly on 30 May.
Fellow left-backs Kieran Tierney and Andrew Robertson establishing themselves as the country’s foremost talents appeared to allow no way in for the redoubtable Stevenson. The dynamic duo have ensured that the highly-rated Barry Douglas – who will be playing in the English Premier League with Wolverhampton Wanderers next season – has only won a solitary cap.
However Robertson’s Champions League final engagement with Liverpool in 11 days’ time and Tierney’s 59-game season with Celtic that have led to both players being excused from the squad for the Americas now provides the unlikeliest of openings to the Scotland senior side for Stevenson, whose season began with a testimonial following 12 years as a first-team regular at Easter Road. It is the player’s staying power in games, as well as in the game, that leaves Mcleish in no doubt he has earned his break.
“In the games I have watched him, I have seen him in oneto-ones, I have seen him going forward,” said Mcleish. “He is very enterprising going forward, putting these delicious balls across the face of the goal that we see Andy Robertson doing week in, week out, Tierney week in week out.
“Lewis has got a little bit more experience than the other boys but they are obviously playing at fantastic levels. Hibs have had a great season. They have played some great football and he has been one of the best players in their team. No doubt about it.
“I have had good reports about him. Stuart Kennedy is a very shrewd guy in terms of his opinion of footballers, and he flagged it up a few weeks ago. I said ‘Stuart, honestly, we’ve got him pencilled in because we have been impressed by him’. He has just taken his experience to a good level this season with Hibs. For a change, we were short of left-siders, would you believe. Andy is out, Tierney is out, [Callum] Mcgregor is out. I thought Lewis was an obvious candidate.”
Stevenson is well aware that the honour of being selected for his country could be construed as coming by default. It matters to him not a jot.
“I did always dream about playing for Scotland. Even though I know there are topquality left-backs still available to play and be called up, I am just delighted to be involved,” said the Scotland under-21 international.
“There comes a point when it doesn’t even cross your mind about getting a Scotland callup. I must have been doing something right this season to be involved and it is something I feel proud about. If I am called upon in the matches, I’ll try my best to help out the team.
“I am 30 years old now, so it has come as a surprise [even if] I was involved in Scotland set-ups at youth level when I was younger.
“The last time I was in an under-21 squad was about ten years ago. I’m sure it is still similar going for international duty where you have to live and breathe football.
“Playing all those years ago has probably given me the experience of what to expect and anything new I will look to adapt quickly. I’ll be eager to grasp the opportunity with both hands, but I’m under no illusions that there are topquality left-backs throughout the country that couldn’t make this squad, I’ll be trying my best when I pull on the Scotland jersey.”
The Edinburgh-based contingent in a squad that again features his clubmates John Mcginn and Dylan Mcgeough was further swelled by the call for Hearts’ John Souttar.
His first Scotland senior selection could have created the possibility of lining up alongside club’s defensive partner Christophe Berra but for the 33-year-old Hearts captain asking not to be included afterfeelingtheeffectsofafirst season back in Scottish football in nine years.
“Christophe was another one we made a concession for – we asked him to come but he’s struggling a wee bit,” he said. “He’s over 30 and sometimes you have these wee ailments that require the close season to get sorted.”
Mcleish hopes his players will “embrace” the opportunity to play football in entirely different environments to their own. “Live the dream,” he said. “It’s incredible to see other cultures. As a footballer it’s fairytale stuff you dream about as a wee boy in primary school.”