Scots’ World Cup dream is in safe hands, says Hareide

DENMARK boss Age Hareide says Gordon Strachan is the man to end Scotland’s 20-year exile from major international finals by leading the national team to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The Scots host the Danes in tonight’s friendly at Hampden, with Hareide expecting a ‘fight’ between two passionate football nations who both failed to qualify for the enlarged Euro 2016 tournament in France this summer. Unlike this evening’s visitors, Scotland didn’t even make the play-offs, but the 62-year-old former Norway and Malmo boss insists Strachan remains the best candidate to lead the country

SCOTLAND Under-21 defender Jordan McGhee believes his partnership with John Souttar was one of the positives to emerge from last week’s defeat to France. The Scots were beaten 2-0 by the French in Angers on Thursday to leave them with an uphill struggle to qualify for the European Championships. Their only win in n five matches came against Northern Ireland in their opening encounter, with the Northern Irish h again providing the opposition today y at the Paisley 2021 Stadium. Ricky Sbragia’s side will want to bounce back and McGhee (pictured) says the Hearts duo in central defence can provide a solid foundation. ‘Whether it’s at Hearts or with Scotland, me and John (Souttar) can do well,’ said McGhee. ‘John made his Hearts debut with me and we won 3-0 against Ross County a few weeks ago. He had a really good game and I feel we work well together. ‘On Thursday, we played against guys you wouldn’t come up against in Scotland, such as Haller and Dembele, who is apparently going for around £40million. ‘When you play against those two and have a really good game togeth together, there’s no reas reason you can’t do it in the Sc Scottish Pr Premiership ev every week. ‘It ‘It’s really just bei being given the chan chance and having someo someone who really believes ini you. Luckily for us, Ricky believes in it. We did well together. ‘We play the same way as each other, we get the ball down and play, and we read each other well and complement each other. ‘We didn’t defend badly against France. We had a good shape to us. But the French are a good side and you could see their quality up front.’