Scotland No2 John Carver has appealed for some cold, hard realism over the team’s Nations League hopes.
Steve Clarke’s side have been pitched into a daunting Pool A group featuring Poland, Portugal and Croatia.
They face the Poles at Hampden on Thursday night in their first game since making a dismal exit from Euro 2024, with preparations already affected by the withdrawals of first-choice striker Che Adams, Celtic duo James Forrest and Greg Taylor and Kilmarnock goalkeeper Robby McCrorie.
Criticised after comparable nations such as Denmark, Slovakia, Georgia and Slovenia all reached the second stage in Germany, assistant manager Carver believes expectations for the new campaign should be tempered by an acceptance of Scotland’s limitations.
‘Let’s not forget how big our nation is,’ said the former Newcastle caretaker boss.
‘It’s a wonderful place up here but we are not a huge country when it comes to football.
‘What’s the population? 5.5million? It’s not a huge population and there are other sports.
Scotland suffered at the Euros and were knocked out after a final 1-0 defeat to Hungary
John Carver makes a point to fellow coach Austin MacPhee at training on Monday
John McGinn leads the way in training as Scotland prepare to face Poland on Thursday
‘Let’s not forget that our recent games have been against top sides. And top sides in the world, not just in Europe.
‘So let’s have a bit of realism here.
‘It’s going to be tough because the next six games are going to be exactly the same, coming up against top nations. But would you not rather have that? I would.
‘I would rather be playing against Portugal and Poland and Croatia in the next six games because that is challenging.
‘It’s going to be tough, we know that. But I’m sure if you are the Tartan Army, you want to play games like that.
‘That’s not being disrespectful to the smaller countries.’
Adams was one of a trio of Scotland internationals to leave England for Serie A in the window, joining Torino from Southampton, while Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour both moved to Napoli from Manchester United and Brighton, respectively.
After a raft of Sunday games, players were late to arrive at Scotland’s Glasgow training camp, with Clarke and Carver forced to conduct a head count after a number of late call-offs.
‘I think we had in total on the grass this morning about eight players,’ said Carver. ‘Five joined in the full training session, three of them did in part.
‘We had a tight, small session this morning — obviously you can’t do a great deal with eight players, or five players. We will have a lot more tomorrow and we will have the full squad on Wednesday to do some tactical work.
‘Obviously, we have guys flying in from America and Italy — the two lads who have just signed, Scott and Billy, and the emotion they have gone through in the last few days.
‘They will hopefully join us and be ready for the tactical side of things on Wednesday. There is not a lot of preparation time, as you well know, but you just have to get on with it.
‘It is going to be daunting. It is a daunting challenge. And our aim is to survive in the group — that’s what have to do. Yes, we want to win it, or come second, but our primary aim is can we stay in the group?’
Keen to move on from the disappointment and rancour which followed the anti-climactic exit from the Euros, Carver believes there are still reasons to be positive over the national team.
‘I think everybody realises we are realistic people and we understand what went on in the summer,’ said Carver, after the Scots were thrashed 5-1 by Germany, drew 1-1 with Switzerland and were beaten 1-0 by Hungary.
‘But what we can’t do is we can’t keep going back to it now. We’ve got an unbelievable group ahead of us, some fantastic games, and we’ve got the preparation for the World Cup because, for me, this is when the preparation starts.
‘That is why there will be a few fresh faces in there, which is important. We’ve looked at every part of the world to see what players could come in to take us forward.
‘Let’s not forget, Scotland were in the doldrums for 23 years, and we’ve now qualified for two back-to-back Euros, we’ve got into Nations League Group A, so I think we’re going in the right direction.
‘There is still a huge gap to close, let’s not forget that. But we have to put it into perspective of where we are, how far we have come, and where we want to go.’
Dundee keeper Jon McCracken has been called into the squad as McCrorie’s replacement.
