Scotland deserve a bit of pot luck this time, says Strachan
THERE i s no Scotland manager in this imperial Russian city to make an immediate reaction as our World Cup dreams emerge from Pot 3 this evening. But Gordon Strachan’s team are facing a Russia 2018 qualifying draw in Peter the Great’s Konstantin Summer Palace that might easily prove as treacherous as the many which have gone before.
Scotland under Strachan ar e a transformed proposition and continue to hold ambitions of ending the 18-year absence from major competitions with qualification for Euro 2016.
Proceedings here will remove attention from that immediate aim for only a short time. Strachan remains focused on the forthcoming fixtures with Georgia and Germany that are crucial if the aim of reaching France next year is to be achieved.
Yet, for the national manager, the wish for a World Cup qualifying process that is less taxing than those to which we have become accustomed would help him sleep that little bit easier.
Strachan, who will watch the draw live at a Scotland Supporters’ Club event at Hampden, said: ‘I’ve never been one for hoping we avoid this team or wishing we draw that team. It’s disrespectful to the other nations and it’s also pointless — you can’t control names that come out of a glass bowl. What I would say is that, given the draws in recent campaigns, we are due a favourable one.
‘When you look at the campaign for the World Cup in 2014, Croatia were top seeds and we managed to beat them twice, which shows that we are more than capable of upsetting those teams seeded above us.
‘The problem for us was that Belgium were third seeds behind Serbia but, by that point, had blossomed into one of the best teams in Europe with the emergence of (Marouane) Fellaini, (Thibaut) Courtois, ( Vincent) Kompany, ( Eden) Hazard, (Cristian) Benteke and (Romelu) Lukaku as top players.
‘Then there was Wales, supposedly the weakest team in the group as sixth seeds, but who have since gone on a remarkable journey — helped by having an inspirational world-class player in Gareth Bale — and are now a top seed.
‘I don’t think anyone would argue with the progress we have made so far in another tough qualifying group — in fact, the toughest in the European qualifiers.
‘We have already shown we can compete against the world champions, Germany. I still firmly believe we will qualify for the Euro 2016 f i nals i n France. More importantly, the players believe that, too.’
Strachan thinks the increasing standard of European nations means there is no such thing as an easy group any more and told the official SFA website: ‘It doesn’t really matter to me whether we were in Pot 2 or 3. Having been Pot 4 for long enough, it shows progress. Qualification for major tournaments will happen on the pitch, though, not on a spreadsheet.
‘Qualifying for a World Cup finals is harder than ever, especially for nations in the UEFA confederation — there are so many good national teams across the Continent vying for a limited number of places.’
Wales and England are among the first ranked of Europe’s 52 teams — Russia qualify automatically as hosts — that will go into nine groups to decide the 14 teams who’ll represent Europe at the 2018 finals.
Seven of the groups will be of six teams and two of five. But UEFA have got their way in that their big half-dozen nations — England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Holland — will be in the six-strong groups to maximise commercial revenues.
Unlike the almost guaranteed entry to France’s European 2016 tournament, which will be contested by 24 teams, only one side from those nine Euro groups are certain of a spot in Russia, plus another four progressing from the play-offs.