Gordon Strachan believes the level of intensity within his Scotland squad in preparation for Saturday’s match against the Republic of Ireland offers tangible proof of progress.
A win at the Aviva Stadium would edge them five points ahead of Ireland with four Euro 2016 qualifying matches to play. Strachan’s team could then seek to apply further pressure to Poland and Germany for the automatic berths to France from Group D.
“The fact they’ve done so well over the last 18 months or since the tournament started, they’ve kept that motivation,” Strachan said of his squad.
“This could have been a horrible fixture. As a matter of fact, I said to them this week: ‘If we only had a couple of points I wouldn’t have expected to see a lot of you lot. But the fact is you have put yourself in this position where this is an important game, you have put yourself in a great position.’
“They have made it interesting. They have decided that because of their performances. This is a big game as is the next one because of their performances.”
Two years ago, in one of Strachan’s first games in charge, Scotland won in Croatia. Strachan felt then that his players believed they should be on holiday rather than international duty.
“It looked like it was hard work for everybody then,” he said. “This is not hard work. There is an excitement about it and an energy that has made the whole thing flow. We had to drag whatever we had out of each other for that game. Whatever the coaching staff had left in them, whatever the players had left in them. The fitness of the players is far, far better than that squad was.”
The Scotland manager continues to insist qualification is not yet on his mind. “The excitement of this game is the motivator,” he said. “Everybody wants to play in this game. Everybody.”
Similarly, Strachan has shrugged off any suggestion that Ireland would be removed from the qualifying equation with an away victory in Dublin. “You can see from what they do in the last five minutes of games it is hard to knock Ireland out,” he said.
“It is important, the last five or 10 minutes. Hopefully you are fit enough. But I’ve not got a problem with that. We’re all right.
“I don’t think Ireland’s character is in doubt. If you look at the players there, that is never in doubt. I would like to think that they would think the same about us. The last five minutes could be irrelevant one way or another if you don’t do your job properly. That goes for both sides.
“So obviously if we are all doing our job properly we could still be in there for the last five minutes of the game. If you look at our games, we are still in there in the last five minutes and so have Ireland.”
Strachan’s key selection decision for only Scotland’s third competitive fixture in Dublin involves playing Charlie Mulgrew at centre-half or in central midfield. He excelled alongside Scott Brown in the latter position when Scotland defeated Ireland 1-0 in Glasgow last year.
