BEN RAMAGE
Ex-Saint McGinn ready for tournament of dreams
Former St Mirren star John McGinn says Scotland’s historic play- off win in Serbia rivalled lifting the League Cup with the Buddies.
The Aston Villa playmaker was just 18 when he helped the Saints beat Hearts in 2013 to lift the trophy for the first time in the club’s history.
The midfield maestro also played a huge part in helping his country qualify for their first major tournament in 23 years, with Steve Clarke’s side set to open up their Euro 2020 campaign with a clash against the Czech Republic next Monday.
The 26- year- old insists his international teammates have plenty of confidence heading into a group which contains fierce rivals England and World Cup 2018 finalists Croatia.
And he insists he’ll do all he can to soak in the experience after Scotland spent so many years in the international wilderness.
McGinn said: “That night in
Serbia, Ryan Christie’s interview summed it up – that was the way the whole squad felt. It was just incredible.
“I was lucky enough to go to all the Scotland games when I was younger and that interview was an outpouring of sheer desperation.
“When Luka Jovic scored the equaliser, it was like a dagger in the back. I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go again, we have joined the list of maybe men’.
“But the proudest thing that whole night was how well we played. That made it feel special. It wasn’t just a penalty shoot-out victory, it was the way we went to celebrate after an enormous amount of pressure and having performed the way we did.
“Hopefully, that can give us confidence.
“We are playing with a wee bit more swagger.
“Hopefully moving forward we can make this a regular occurrence.
“The St Mirren League Cup final is one game I will never forget for a number of reasons. It flashed by ridiculously quickly and I didn’t remember much of it apart from me and big Steven Thompson getting subbed at similar times and panicking at the side.
“He did say to me, ‘If you get to this stage again, make sure you soak everything in’.
“Since then I have become better at remembering things, making sure I enjoy it and don’t get too drunk after it.
“But I have to be honest and say I was the drunkest man in Belgrade after that game!”
McGinn is likely to be one of the first names on Clarke’s teamsheet as they head into the group stage.
The ex- Buddie believes his international teammates must show their personality on the pitch and not fear their opposition counterparts.
McGinn added: “I think we will have to show our identity. We will have to show everything we’ve got.
“You look at the players, those playing down here or up the road, everyone has got their own style of play, their own identity and the thing this manager has brought to the team is the understanding we need to show personality on the pitch.
“We were trying too hard to play as a team and forgetting how good we are individually.
“It is important to give a nice balance.
“We are trying to get that now.”