Scotland will look to make a positive start to their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign on Thursday afternoon as they make the 3000-mile trip to Astana - renamed Nursultan on Tuesday - to face Kazakhstan in their Group I opener.
The third-seeded visitors, hoping to finally end a major tournament hoodoo that now stands at 21 years, have already made sure of at least a play-off place after a nervy 3-2 win over Israel in November that also saw them win promotion in the Nations League.
Alex McLeish has lost the services of six players - Allan McGregor, captain Andy Robertson, Callum Paterson, Ryan Fraser, Ryan Christie and Steven Fletcher - since then due to injury and retirement in McGregor's case, while Celtic full-back Kieran Tierney has also been ruled out with a hip injury.
Those fitness issues have left the manager bemoaning a potential loss of momentum and consistency after successive wins and with tougher tests against the likes of Belgium and Russia to come.
"We want to try and get a little bit of familiarity in the set-up every time we name the squad. If you keep changing the team then you lose a little bit of rhythm," McLeish said.
"It doesn't matter how good the players are that you bring in, if you get victories together and a set of players who know each other inside out then they get that momentum together, then that's really important in any tournament, especially in these games coming up."
Kazakhstan vs Scotland UK channel
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event from 2:30pm, and is available via Now TV with a day pass on offer for £8.99.
Sky Sports subscribers can stream the match online via SkyGo and the SkyGo app.
Standard Sport will also keep you up to date with all of today's goals via our LIVE blog.
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