The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Scotland tour no jolly: Mcfadden
Former Dundee United pair Armstrong and Souttar staying home
James Mcfadden has urged the Scotland squad to make the most of their “working trip” to Peru and Mexico after insisting their end-of-season tour is no jolly.
The national team assistant boss hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2002 when he went AWOL after a boozy night out at the end of a post-season tour to Hong Kong.
The then 19-year-old Motherwell youngster slept in and missed his flight home from the Far East with the rest of Berti Vogts’ squad.
It was an episode which might have ended the international ambitions of lesser talents but Mcfadden does not want any of Alex Mcleish’s current crop taking the same risk.
Scotland face Peru in Lima on May 29 before moving on to Mexico City on June 2, but the trip’s timing has proved controversial and Mcleish has already seen six players pullout, with former Dundee United pair Stuart Armstrong and John Souttar the latest call-offs.
But Mcfadden wants the 21-man group who are travelling to squeeze as much from the trip as possible.
“That wasn’t supposed to be ‘that’ kind of trip either,” he said with a wry grin as he recalled his Hong Kong mishap. “And this time we’re also going to work. It’s an honour and a privilege to play for your country.
“Yeah the timing is not ideal but we’ve got to make the best of it. We’re going to two countries that you’ve never played in before. Maybe you’ve been to Mexico on holiday but this isn’t Cancun we’re going to.
“The atmosphere at both games will be electric and it will be a different experience in terms of the conditions. It will be humid, it will be hot, the altitude will make it even difficult just to walk up the stairs.
“So it’s a working trip. We’ve done all the science behind it and how we’re going to approach the training and the games out there.
“But the experience is the big thing. Going forward we want to be giving up every second summer because we’re at a tournament. It could be a tournament played somewhere like this and we’ll have to deal with the conditions, so we can use this experience to our advantage.”
Among those not making the transatlantic trip is Liverpool’s Andy Robertson.
The left-back has the perfect excuse, though, with the Reds’ Champions League final commitments this weekend meaning he is otherwise detained.
But Mcfadden has no doubts about the former Queen’s Park and Dundee United defender’s dedication to his country.
Mcfadden, speaking at the Tesco Bank Football Challenge at Hampden, said: “When Andy was up for the last squad, he said if Liverpool made the final he wouldn’t make this trip. I joked he could always come over for the second game.
“But the other part of his message was that if they didn’t make the final, he would want to come along because he wants to win as many caps for Scotland as he can.
“He’s had to wait for his opportunity in football and he’s making sure he makes the most of every minute he gets for Scotland now. He knows where he’s come from. That’s the best quality he’s got – he’s so humble.”