It’s a major ambition of mine to take Scotland to a championship Finals
SAYS JACK HENDRY
Jack Hendry made his Scotland debut just four days after Scott McKenna, so it is easy to believe him when he says he’s proud of his team-mate’s achievements.
He has every reason to be, too. The Aberdeen defender captained his country in the Azteca at the age of 21, on only his fourth international appearance.
It denotes a level of confidence from the coaching staff that goes beyond the norm, and strongly suggests Alex McLeish believes McKenna is the long-term solution to a perennial problem.
Yet, while happy to acknowledge the implied hint, Hendry makes clear it is not one he is minded to heed.
Why? Because the Celtic stopper intends to do everything he can to make sure HE, not McKenna, is the man who leads Scotland back to a major championship.
“For Scott to have skippered Scotland against Mexico was a great achievement,” he said.
“He is only 21 years old, so the fact he has managed to get to this stage so early is such a credit to him.
“But it is also an inspiration to the rest of us.
“To captain Scotland is a massive honour and, as much as we are proud of him, I am sure all the lads in the dressing- room – in the squad even – will now be aiming to get the armband off him.
“Everyone wants to be the captain of Scotland. I am no different.
“It is a major ambition of mine to take Scotland to a championship Finals, whether that be the Euros or the World Cup.
“We have not been to one for 20 years now, and that is too long.
“You see the likes of Tom Rogic get the call to join up with the Australian lads in Russia, where I am sure he will thrive, and you can’t help wishing we were involved.
“Hopefully, the group of lads we have available to the country now will be able to do something about that.
“We have a double opportunity to reach Euro 2020, with places available not only f ro m the tournament’s qualifiers but also via the Nations League route. That is something we will be striving to attain.
Hendry put his confidence down to what he sees as a wide pool of talent available to Alex McLeish.
To the group who toured Peru and Mexico add an almost equally-sizeable number of players who stayed home to take part in big endof-season matches or to rest up.
Then there’s the best of the Under- 21 group, who put together an impressive run in Toulon.
“There are a lot of young lads coming through, which bodes well for the future,” said the 23-year-old Celtic man.
“When you consider all those that were not with us on the tour, you can see there is a real depth of talent available to the manager moving forward.
“He will have a few dilemmas I would think when it comes to picking his squads. But this is international football we are talking about and that is what you want.
“One of the good things about it is that there should also be a nice mix of youth, experience and some new faces available.”
Hendry cites as an example the impact made by his club colleague, Scott Bain, in goal against Mexico.
“Scott made a great debut.” said Hendry. “I know him from my days with Dundee and have always rated him as a keeper. Now we are together at Celtic where he is showing up well too.
“With Allan McGregor unable to make the trip, he was given the chance to come to Peru and Mexico and he grabbed it.
“To make your first international appearance in the Azteca Stadium, and keep a clean sheet in the half you are given, is an effort any keeper would have to be pleased with.
“There was a wee while when Scott wasn’t playing any football (Dundee dropped him after he had a row with manager Neil McCann at half- time in the home defeat to Hamilton), but that is football.
“Sometimes you are going to get knocks, but it is how you bounce back from them that really matters.
“You can’t recover much better than ending the season as a double-Treble winner, and by playing for your country against Mexico in the Azteca, so fair play to him.”
If not all the players introduced into the Scotland side had as good a night in Mexico City as Bain, there were, Hendry argued, plenty of positives to take back from the longhaul trip.
“I thought we coped well,” he said. “Especially when you think the stadium is at an altitude that’s twice the height of Ben Nevis.
“None of us had played in those type of conditions before, so it was never going to be easy.
“In the early stages of the game, we maybe did take a little while to acclimatise, in terms of getting up to the pace of the game.
“Once we did that, we were able to start to feel more at home in the environment.
“From that point on, I thought we gave a good account of ourselves.
“It was obviously disappointing to lose the game. But what an experience for the group of lads.
“The stadium was amazing. Playing in front of 70- 80,000 at the Azteca is the standard you want to be playing your football at.
“It is a very special place, with a very special history. We have all been brought up on the stories of Pele and Maradona and what they did there.
We’ve a double opportunity to reach Euro 2020, with places also available via the Nations League
“So to get the chance to play at the same ground is a real honour. For myself and for all of the lads.
“You still have to play your football, of course, so you are not thinking about the legends during the match. It is more before and afterwards.
“But it was a very enjoyable place to play. I thought we did well, considering Mexico are going to the World Cup and were in front of their home fans.
“Their movement was very good, as was the speed and accuracy of their passing.
“As difficult as it can be to play against, that is exactly what you want to be facing. Why? Because coming up against those sort of teams and top forwards makes you a better player.
“It was obviously disappointing to lose the game, but what an experience for the group of lads.
“Now, hopefully, we can build on that and bring those youngsters on. Most of them were able to cope with the atmosphere at the Azteca, and that has to stand us in good stead for the fixtures ahead.
“We have another friendly, this time against Belgium, at the start of September, and then a couple of days after that it is Albania in the first of the Nations League ties.
“Do well against Albania and we will have some momentum to carry with us in the trip to Israel that follows.
“I don’t think there is any reason we can’t do that. I don’t think there is any reason we can’t see it through and make it to Euro 2020.
“That would be amazing, because we would be playing a couple of our games at Hampden in front of our own fans.
“The qualifier against England ( where Leigh Griffiths scored his two stunning free- kicks) was a taster of what it would be like. But being in the Finals would be on a whole different level.
“It is an exciting thing to us to be playing for.”
Of that there is no doubt.