SEIZE THE DAY
McLeish urges new Scots to ‘go for it’
ALEX McLEish last night urged scotland’s new boys to seize the day and prove they can cut it in international football.
Big Eck’s second coming begins with a home friendly against World Cup qualifiers Costa Rica at hampden tonight.
And the returning scotland boss could blood a raft of new faces after naming the likes of scott McTominay, Oli McBurnie, Jamie Murphy, Jason Cummings and Jack hendry in his squad.
Blackburn defender Charlie Mulgrew will wear the captain’s armband vacated by scott Brown for a game likely to be watched by just over 20,000.
Urging the new faces to embrace their opportunity and ‘go for it’, McLeish said: ‘We want to give the fans who come to the game something back.
‘We thank them for coming, we know that
it’s Friday night and Costa Rica are not the number one team in the world. ‘But it’s a team that has qualified for the World Cup finals. They are ahead of us in the FIFA rankings. ‘If we beat them, then we start to get up the rankings a wee bit. That’s important — it’s important to win. ‘It’s also very important that I see these players can handle this well. ‘A lot of them have already been at this level. But there will be an introduction of younger players and my message to them is: “Go for it”. ‘The gauntlet is down. Go and seize your chance.’ Costa Rica currently sit in 26th position in the FIFA rankings, with Scotland six places lower. Criticised for leaving the likes of Hearts captain Christophe Berra out of the squad, McLeish believes he has to try out new players before the first Nations League qualifier with Albania in September. ‘There could be three or four (new caps) playing against Costa Rica but we will try to pick a team to beat Costa Rica,’ he said. ‘They scored a lot of late goals in their qualifying campaign. They have good players and strength. ‘It’s not about saying: “Go and get a run out”. We have a duty to win. ‘Costa Rica are a decent side and we have to manage expectations. We could lose. We want to win the game — but we could lose. ‘So what do you get out of it? We could blood a few young guys. Did they handle it? ‘You have to analyse it all. Do we say: “Get all the guys we left out back?”. ‘I haven’t closed the door on the likes of Christophe Berra or these guys. ‘They are maybe hurting a bit that they aren’t in the squad but they aren’t out of the plans — nobody is. ‘But we have to do this. I want to see how these players handle it.’ At the age of 32, Mulgrew will captain the national team for the first time tonight. Admitting he hasn’t yet reached a decision on a permanent successor to Scott Brown, however, McLeish said: ‘Charlie will be captain for this game and then we will see what happens in the next game. ‘Charlie is the standout, his experience and the fact he has been in the game a long time. ‘His experience can help the kids… I say kids, the younger players. ‘They are grown men, they have to show that their performance level can be as good for Scotland as it has been for their clubs. ‘I do like a captain who can communicate.’