McLeish urges shadow squad to seize the day
FOR players hesitant of national-team travels and potential impact on performance, Chris Burke showed just how easy it can be to fight off post-season fatigue and jetlag to become a Scotland hero.
‘All I can remember is yawning my head off in the dugout and hoping Walter Smith didn’t see me,’ recalled the winger. ‘We did well. It was a tiring trip but it all felt better winning the tournament.’
Burke’s bouts of exhaustion on the substitutes’ bench were among his happy memories of the 2006 Kirin Cup, silverware Scotland secured when a scoreless draw against hosts Japan topped a whirlwind trip to the Far East.
For the trophy triumph was teed up just two days earlier, in the Kobe Wing Arena, partly thanks to Burke stirring from his near slumbers to be introduced as a 75th-minute sub against Bulgaria.
The Rangers winger clipped in a beautiful lobbed finish within three minutes of his introduction, then — seconds from the end — tapped in Scotland’s fifth goal in a 5-1 victory.
Smith’s patchwork squad had belied much pre-trip scepticism about trekking to Japan right at the end of a long domestic campaign and, in doing so, made light of lots of call-offs.
Kenny Miller, Barry Ferguson, Jackie McNamara, Shaun Maloney and Rab Douglas were among the high-profile names made unavailable.
Craig Gordon, Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and Andy Webster stayed at home to win the Scottish Cup for Hearts against Gretna on the day Scotland also won a trophy.
In came Lee Miller, Ian Murray, Jamie Smith, David McNamee, Scott Severin, Gary Teale, Neil Alexander, Kris Boyd and 22-year-old Burke, fresh from 35 games for the Ibrox club, to make a debut to remember.
Boyd’s double on his Scotland debut, came only four days after he rounded off the Rangers season by scoring twice against Hearts in a league match at Ibrox.
Burke recalled: ‘I never had any reservations about going (to Japan). I was just really excited. I was young and I wanted to play.
‘As you get older, you might think you need more time to rest. But, at a young age, you get anxious when you’re off for three days.
‘I remember thinking when we were walking out: “I’m in the Scotland team — how good is this?”
‘I can’t remember who was missing, but it was my first call-up and it was also Kris Boyd’s debut — and we both scored in that game.
‘But I was shattered. It was a long trip to Japan and we weren’t there for a lengthy period of time.
‘The home fans were incredible — I remember when we played Japan in the second game, as soon as they crossed the halfway line, it was like they had scored a goal.
‘It’s up there with the best things I’ve ever done. Scored twice on my debut for Scotland — the only thing that could have topped it was if it had been at Hampden. But it’s a close second. Especially when we lifted a trophy at the end of it.
‘When you’re a young kid, you think these things will happen all the time — but things don’t always work out like that.’
For half of Smith’s travelling party, it’s fair to say they wouldn’t know where their next cap was coming from.
In Burke’s case, it took seven years and the entirety of the Alex McLeish, George Burley and Craig Levein eras to pass for him to pull on the Scotland jersey again.
Gordon Strachan’s first match in charge against Estonia in February 2013 was the occasion for the third of Burke’s seven senior caps.
Injury, illness and personal issues frequently prevented the former Cardiff and Birmingham man from building on his spectacular start.
However, as many as nine players could be handed their debuts by McLeish against Peru or Mexico this week and Burke stressed to all of them that this much-derided trip could be the making of their careers.
His Kilmarnock team-mate Stephen O’Donnell is joined in that camp by Chris Cadden, Scott Bain, Jordan Archer, Dylan McGeouch, Jon McLaughlin, Graeme Shinnie, Lewis Stevenson and Lewis Morgan.
‘The guys need to embrace it,’ said Burke. ‘I wanted to impress. It’s a great opportunity for the players who are stepping in. They’re getting the chance to show what they can offer.
‘They shouldn’t be looking at these as friendlies. These should be treated as two competitive games for Scotland, because there’s something on the line for all these players.
‘The manager is rightly taking a look at different ones, trying to see what the strengths of the team could be going forward.
‘So the players should seize the moment. Any time you get called up for your national team, it’s because the manager thinks you have something to offer.’
O’Donnell flew out to Peru with those words of advice from Burke and fellow Kilmarnock team-mate Boyd ringing in his ears.
Called up late following the withdrawal of Wolves defender Barry Douglas, the 26-year-old was rewarded for his improvement and consistency for Steve Clarke’s top-six stars.
‘Stephen deserves his call-up,’ added Burke. ‘He’s an attacking full-back, a modern-day player. We have Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney who do the same thing.
‘Stephen delivers great balls into the box. In terms of his strength and power, he has it all.
‘The good thing from his point of view is that Alex McLeish was a class act defensively and he’ll make sure that side of Stephen’s game is right, as well as the attacking aspect.
‘And he’ll relish the chance to learn from someone like Alex. He has that sort of mentality.
‘He’s not the kind of guy who’ll be thinking this is taking two weeks out of his holidays. He will be buzzing.
‘Stephen has a great work ethic and he listens. This experience will benefit him and Kilmarnock next season on the back of it.’