A meeting of Scotland and the Republic of Ireland at Celtic Park, featuring two former managers of that club alongside several players who ply or have plied their domestic trade there, may have an obvious narrative. It would only be boosted further by the prospect of thousands of Irish supporters taking seats in the home sections of the stadium.
Gordon Strachan, though, has firmly rejected any sense of domestic links or familiarity being pertinent to this crucial Group D fixture. Strachan bridled at the suggestion Ireland may feel perfectly comfortable in surroundings once successfully inhabited by Martin O’Neill and, for a more brief period, his assistant Roy Keane. Strachan himself took charge of Celtic for four years.
“Tomorrow night, that is Scottish territory and you’ll know it’s Scottish territory,” Strachan insisted. “You’ll be in no doubt where you are tomorrow – you’re in Scotland and Scotland are playing, against Ireland. It’s not a Celtic crowd tomorrow, it’s a Scottish crowd. There are a lot of things that are different. You can’t compare them, it’s two different entities. I believe the atmosphere will be terrific but in a different way.”
Not that Scotland’s manager is in any way reluctant to dismiss the value of home advantage. He was part of the process which decided upon Celtic Park rather than Ibrox – where Scotland recently hosted Georgia – for this game. Hampden is still recovering from the rigours attached to hosting the Commonwealth Games, hence the national team have been forced to do things a little differently.
“We are going to get 55,000 Scots in there tomorrow,” Strachan added. “We couldn’t have done that anywhere else and that will help us. For these two games, against Ireland and England, I think we have done the right thing.
“It will inspire all the players. It will manage to get another few per cent out of them. They can drink all the water they want, eat all the carbohydrates they want but the extra bit will come from our fans.”
That brief mention of England’s upcoming visit to Glasgow rather sums up the Scottish mood. Tuesday night’s friendly has paled into insignificance against the Ireland match, a matter intensified by the impressive start O’Neill’s side have made to their qualifying section. Three points separate the two teams; Scotland cannot afford that gap to double.
“It is a pat on the back for the players that they have generated this interest,” said Strachan. “It is great for them because when the game was announced against England that was the big game. But that has been put on the back burner now. So that is great – terrific.”
Strachan concurs with the general view that his team and the Irish are evenly-matched. Typically, though, the 57-year-old has moved to play down the wider significance of what is a rare meeting of these two nations in competitive form.
“I went out yesterday to the cinema and I met a lot of people. That is when the excitement started,” he said. “I think we’ve got it right. We don’t get them too high for a game no matter if it’s Germany or Georgia and we want to strike a balance. The coaches set the standard and I detach myself from the madness that surrounds it – which is a great madness for everyone bar the players. It’s good to have excitement but I’m totally detached from the media side of things and just get on with it.
“The squads are strong. We’re working in the same sort of areas, the same sort of leagues. There are some terrific players in the Irish side backed up with good players. There is no player in any squad you think is out of place.”
Scotland (probable) 4-2-3-1: Marshall; Whittaker, Hanley, Martin, Robertson; Brown, Morrison; Maloney, Naismith, Anya; S Fletcher. Subs from: Gilks, Gordon, Berra, Forsyth, Greer, Bannan, Russell, Macleod, Paterson, D Fletcher, Mulgrew, Burke, Dorrans, Martin, May.
