How memories of that night and Serbia can drive Scotland towards World Cup dream

That belonged to assistant manager John Carver, whose celebrations after David Marshall had dived low to his left to save Aleksandr Mitrovic’s penalty in Serbia that historic evening proved perhaps a little on the exuberant side for a man of his vintage.

Still, as the fourth anniversary of that sodden evening in Belgrade rolled around yesterday, the memory still drew a smile from the face of Carver, and the affable Geordie is certain that the Scotland players of today can still draw inspiration from it too as they look to finish their Nations League Group strongly, and set themselves up for a crack at making the World Cup.

Thinking back to the evening, Carver believes, can serve not only as a reminder of how far the national side have come under Steve Clarke despite the bumpy terrain they have encountered of late, but of how far this group can still go.

“I know how far I’ve come, because it was four years ago that my calf blew up, and I was on crutches for three months,” Carver said. “I remember the pain!

“But it is, it’s testament to the guys. We keep talking about how many caps they’ve won, the tournaments we’ve actually qualified for. The one tick of the box that I want, and all the players want, is the next big competition, which is the World Cup, and qualifying for that would be amazing.

“It’s going to be tough, it’s tougher than qualifying for the Euros, but we’ve travelled on a journey, and it’s got us to where we are now.

“We’re in the top group of the Nations League, we’re desperate to stay in that top group, but progress, and it’s been good progress, would be the next bit, is qualifying for the World Cup.

“It was a great night [in Serbia] other than what I did, but it was one of the good things that stays with you, when you remember where you were, what you did, what you did afterwards, the next day and what have you.

“It was a great memory, because you don’t get too many in football, especially when you’re a coach and a manager. So, when you get the good times you enjoy them, and that was certainly one of the good times.

“We talked about the people back home, you know, a lot of the guys, you’ve seen the emotion of Ryan Christie, for example, how much it meant to him, but it affected so many people.

“And I’ve seen so many people, I’ve seen so many videos of people who were so proud of that occasion and that night, and I’ve seen it since then, qualifying for obviously the second set of Euros, but we want to continue that.

“That’s what should drive players. It certainly drives me, when I see the elation on people’s faces of how much it means, and in that difficult time of Covid, what better way to give something back to the country?”

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“No, I think I’ve learned that lesson,” he said.

“I’m going to stay calm, but you know what, I’ll enjoy it, I’ll enjoy it. I think it’s important, but I can’t afford to be on crutches for three months.”

Scotland have rather been limping through their Nations League group to date, in terms of results at least, but their performances have given Carver enough reason to believe that they can finish with a flourish against Croatia and Poland either side of the weekend and remain in the top section of the competition.

They will have to do so without striker Che Adams and winger Lewis Morgan though, who have both withdrawn from the squad through injury, with stalwart Stuart Armstrong drafted in.

The absence of Adams in particular will be keenly felt.

“Yeah, it’s a blow,” he said.

“It’s a blow when you lose any player, but in particular a player of his quality.

“He’s got off to a good start [in Italy with Torino], and you could tell when he came into the last camp how confident he was, scoring a few goals, and quite excited by his new future.

“So, it’s disappointing, but again, we’ve had so many disappointments in the last few months, losing so many top players, and we just have to deal with it, and we do.

“It’s always somebody else’s opportunity, and we talk about that. It’s not a cliche, it’s a fact.

You give somebody else a chance.”