Marshall open to Euros SOS, although he would rather join Tartan Army
David Marshall is making plans to head to Germany this summer but he doubts it will be on the Scotland team plane.
The hero of the hour the last time Steve Clarke’s men booked their place at a major finals, Marshall says he has no regrets about stepping back from international football, although he admits that if there were key injuries, he might not find it easy to turn down an SOS call from his former gaffer.
“No, [no regrets], not at all,” insisted Marshall. “It was great, I enjoyed it, but full focus is on Hibs. Angus [Gunn] has stepped in and been great. If there are injuries then that is obviously a different kettle of fish but Craig [Gordon] is back fit, and Zander [Clark] has been there and been good for Hearts over the last 18 months, so I’m sure they’ll be fine.
“I’m hoping to go [as a fan], but I need to try to dig some tickets up. It’s not as easy as you think. I’ll maybe drop John Mcginn a text and tell him he’s due me a couple after we let Aston Villa beat us! I’d like to take the kids and be on the other side of it.”
But having been there during the last Euros, where Scotland managed a draw with England at Wembley but failed to perform to their potential against the Czech Republic in their opening game and came up short against Croatia, Marshall believes lessons will have been learned and expects Scotland to be a morecompetitiveforcewhen they open the Euro 2024 jamboree against the hosts. Switzerland and Hungary are also in the same section as Clarke’s men.
"The first game in the group is massive,” said the goalkeeper. “It’s vitally important to try to get points on the board. That’s easy to say but it’s true. Also, speaking to the manager after last time, Croatia showed their experience, they knew how to get it done. They had been there before
and although they had a lot of quality, their tournament experience also showed.
“But Scotland have a real chance, with the four best third-place teams getting out the groups as well, so it's about minimising the goals against and stuff like that. Everything helps."
Opening against Germany this time, in Munich on June 14, Marshall knows his former colleagues face a tough task but results over the Nations League campaign and the Euro qualifiers have prompted reason to believe, he says. A match against Switzerland follows in Cologne on June 19 and then Scotland round off the group against Hungary on June 23 in Stuttgart. “Aye, it’s a good draw,” continued Marshall. “To get the opener is fantastic. I remember when we opened against Brazil in France in 1998 so it’s fantastic to do that.
“I was thinking how important it is in the first game, to try to take something from it, and then Germany came out the hat! So obviously it’s tough but I think the boys can be confident in terms of how they’ve done in the last couple of years.
“They’ve kicked on and some of the boys playing down south are in really good form so the confidence will be there and hopefully they can get something in that first game.
“Some of the third places go through as well so you’ve potentially got that as well. Hopefully they can be the first Scotland team to get out of the groups.”