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Scotland Under- 21 boss Scot Gemmill admits he has no idea what kind of side his young Scots will be facing in today’s opening Toul on Tournament encounter – as he’s been unable to find any footage of opponents Togo.
The Scots open their account at the prestigious competition in Aubagne this afternoon with a game against the African nation, who are managed by far-travelled, 70-yearold, Claude Le Roy, now on his 11th international management job.
Gemmill is hoping for a repeat of last year’s showing where Scotland surpassed themselves to finish third in their first Toulon Tournament for 20 years, which included a memorable win over Brazil – the first at any level for a Scotland team.
But he admits he’s struggled to prepare for the game today against Togo, whose senior side is rated 128th in the FIFA World Rankings.
He said: “It’s been hard to get footage of Togo – there is none and, believe me, I’ve tried.
“Normally we would split the preparation into what we do and then focus on the opposition, watching videos, but we haven’t got any.
“We can still prepare in the normal manner, but in terms of detail and the lengths we would normally go to, on this occasion we can’t.
“Obviously, each team prepares in their own way, but you would expect them to do what we do normally and use video footage and they will probably find it easier to access that than we have found it to get some on them.
“We will keep digging and hopefully something will come up but all we can do is get the squad list when we arrive and take it from there.
“I certainly don’ t perceive this to be an easy game.
“I see Togo as a strong team, very physical, who will compete for everything, and if it is a hot day that wont be a problem for them.
“So there is no doubt in my mind that we have a really difficult game coming but that is why we are going, to challenge our players.”
However, Gemmill can take inspiration from one of his former managers, Brian Clough, who certainly wouldn’t have been bothered about getting information about the opposition.
Gemmill said: “No, he wouldn’t, definitely not.
“He just pinned the team on the board, numbers 1 to 11, and you knew which position you were playing by which shirt number you were wearing.
“If you were 7 you were on the right, if you were 11, you were on the left.
“So, when you look at it that way, things have changed a lot!”