Strach: All theworld’s a stage for stars after Czech win
GORDON STRACHAN last night told his players they have forced their way into contention for their forthcoming World Cup qualifying campaign with a stunning away win against the Czech Republic.
A breakaway goal by Ikechi Anya in the 10th minute ultimately ensured that the national team recorded a narrow 1-0 victory in the friendly international at the Stadion Letna in Prague.
Scotland had to withstand periods of intense pressure from their hosts and had Allan McGregor, the Hull City goalkeeper who enjoyed an excellent evening, to thank for maintaining their lead at times.
However, Strachan, whose side will now take on Denmark at Hampden on Tuesday evening, was impressed with how his charges performed against difficult rivals.
He believes many of them have increased their chances of being involved when they get their bid to reach Russia 2018 under way with a game against Malta away in Valletta in September.
“There was a lot of players not here you would have expected to be here,” said Strachan. “It was a bit of a gamble when you come to places like this when you don’t have a full squad.
“But the group made it a good night and they can all be proud of
what they did, even the ones who didn’t get on. They keep learning and it was great learning from the first half to to the second half, how small things can change a game.
“They had to work hard and I keep saying, they turn up, they did a double session the other day because we are not a great side, but we can turn ourselves into a decent side by working hard.
“The whole squad did themselves favours tonight. We have improved dramatically in the second half.
“Considering we had four strikers missing, I don’t think anyone needs to worry about their performance especially in the second half.”
Strachan added: “The win was a huge positive. We had a slow start in the first half when the Czech Republic played very well. I think we allowed them to play.
“The group is quite new working together and they took things we’d been working on in training quite literally by getting into nice positions defensively instead of going and closing people down.
“But once we sorted that out in the second half and passed the ball a bit better it became a different game.”
Strachan singled out McGregor, the former Rangers keeper who lost his place in the Scotland side to David Marshall in the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, for special praise after the hard-fought away win.
“I thought he was fantastic in the first half when he made a number of great saves,” he said. “In the second half he had be really professional in taking crosses and tidying up the back passes.
“He was magnificent at that. I wish he hadn’t had as much to do in the first half, but we sorted it out. We didn’t sort anything out tactically, we played the same way.
“We just closed down better and passed better and if anybody thinks it was a tactical move in the second half, no, it was just the players.”