Steve Clarke admits he is braced for some ‘horrible’ conversations as he prepares to cut two players from his Scotland squad for Euro 2024.
It’s believed that Craig Gordon and John Souttar could be the unlucky pair to miss out as Clarke trims his final squad from 28 players to 26.
That comes as New York Red Bulls forward Lewis Morgan was also handed a last-minute call-up, with Clarke forced into a late rethink due to injuries to Lyndon Dykes and Ben Doak.
Veteran goalkeeper Gordon had been looking to force his way back into the reckoning after recovering from a broken leg. But his lack of regular game-time for Hearts looks to have gone against him, with Zander Clark and Liam Kelly set to be the back-ups to No 1 Angus Gunn in Germany.
Souttar also looks set to be the other casualty, with Scotland taking Grant Hanley, Kieran Tierney, Ryan Porteous, Scott McKenna, Liam Cooper and Jack Hendry as their six centre-backs.
Clarke and his players will face Finland at Hampden on Friday night in their final warm-up match before flying over to Germany on Sunday.
Steve Clarke has had some tough decisions to make regarding his injury-ravaged squad
The experienced Craig Gordon looks set to miss out, with Clarke taking three goalkeepers
John Souttar, the Rangers player, appears to be the odd one out when it comes to defenders
They will kick-off the Euros against the hosts in Munich next Friday night — and Clarke admits it has been a brutal process cutting his squad.
‘It is a horrible part of the job,’ he said. ‘If I’m being honest, I’ve had a really difficult week with the conversations I’ve had to have with Lyndon.
‘He’s one of my key players, one of the players I’m really close with. We have a really close relationship, so that was tough.
‘Then you’ve got a young man like Ben Doak who comes in with hope. Unfortunately, his knee wasn’t going to stand up to the rigours of working for a month.
‘You’ve got a young man who thinks he’s going to make his debut for his country and going to a major tournament — and you’ve then got to have that difficult conversation with him.
‘I’ve had several difficult conversations already —and I know I’ve still got two more ahead of me in terms of the boys who miss out.
‘I’ve got a day off on Saturday. Hopefully I can sit back and feel more relaxed, rather than having to chase more players if we were to pick up any more injuries.’
It is expected that Gordon could play some part against Finland, with Clarke keen to stress the importance of keeping players onside and on standby in the case of any more injuries.
Asked when he might break the news to the two players who miss out, Clarke said: ‘I’m still pondering exactly when to do it. It’s obviously a difficult one as you don’t want to drag it on.
‘There’s two boys who will miss out, but there’s more than that who will be wondering whether or not they are going.
‘I would imagine I’ll do it some time today or in the morning. Just to take away the immediate disappointment for the players, then get on with the game against Finland.
‘We still have a game to play, so I need to keep them primed. If something happens in the game with injuries, then the two who miss out might have a chance of being involved again.
‘It is quite complicated. It’s certainly not an easy decision in terms of breaking the news and knowing when to do it.’
Clarke is confident that midfielder Scott McTominay will be fully fit to face the Germans next week, despite only taking part in full training for the first time on Thursday.
McTominay has been working his way back from a knock he picked up for Manchester United in the FA Cup Final a fortnight ago.
The Scotland boss also revealed that centre-back Cooper is also fine, despite suffering a nasty bang on the knee against Gibraltar earlier this week.
But, given his squad has been ravaged by injuries, Clarke admitted that he will be praying that his players come through unscathed against Finland.
Clarke added: ‘To be fair, I’ve had a fair bit of practice with this now since March. You’re always watching games and feeling concerned about injuries.
‘We lost Lewis [Ferguson], Nathan [Patterson], Jacob [Brown] and Aaron [Hickey].
‘It’s always in the back of your mind. Any time you train or play a match, you can pick up an injury. The players understand that.
‘Liam Cooper is fine. He trained this morning. It was just a bang on the knee. Those can obviously be painful, but it was nothing more serious than that.
‘When he picked up the knock the other night, I made sure we took him off straight away. We didn’t take any risks. Liam is a tough guy, he’ll be fine.
‘Scott McTominay is fine. He trained today. That was the first time he’s trained since he had that kick on the ankle in the FA Cup Final for Man United.
‘He won’t start against Finland, but he will come on to the pitch at some stage. He’ll be fine. ‘Yeah, 100 per cent [he’ll be fine for Germany]. He’s a Rolls-Royce.
‘With Stuart Armstrong, he’s in the very last stage of his rehab. We expect he’ll get the all-clear to start training on Monday when we’re in Germany.’
