SunSport columnist Gordon Strachan picks his Scotland XI to face Germany at Euro

I’VE had grown men stop me in the street and recreate the moment by lifting their leg over the nearest thing to them.

It could be a park bench or a chair in a restaurant.

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One time a guy demonstrated the moment by throwing his foot up onto his baby’s PRAM.

For almost 40 years that’s been happening when I’ve met new people.

And I can honestly say I love it, it’s absolutely fantastic.

For younger readers, it was the Mexico ’86 World Cup and I’d just scored against West Germany.

I’ve told the story endlessly down the years, how so many players had been hurdling the advertising hoarding in previous games and yet there was no chance of me getting up that high.

It’s become one of the iconic moments, I suppose, and it’s nice to have left that little legacy.

But it gets a bit concerning when I think the people I’m talking to are my age, and then they tell me they were at school at the time!

Let’s hope one of the Scotland lads will have a celebration of their own with another goal against the Germans tonight.

Steve Clarke and the boys will believe they gave a chance, why not?

When they’ve beaten a team as good as Spain 2-0 there is no reason for them to fear anyone.

They key will be keeping the ball under pressure but with our middle four of Billy Gilmour, Callum McGregor, Scott McTominay and John McGinn I’m confident we can do that.

Scotland will play in a box and have a degree of freedom within that. But the most important thing is these guys don’t get flustered when things are hectic in there.

I always say it’s about making three passes when we win the ball back. That has always been my mantra.

Unless you can counter- attack with one quick pass, you want to keep it.

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Once you make three passes, the opposition tend to drop off the game so that’s where Gilmour and McGregor are so, so important.

They play with that bravery that’s going to be needed. And they need the rest to join in.

If you look at the goal Ikechi Anya scored against Germany in Dortmund in 2014, it was on the back of good possession under pressure when we were clever enough to get out of a tight situation.

There was actually a time after we scored in that game that I felt certain we were going to win, and they were world champions at the time.

They were fortunate they didn’t get a man sent off, I remember.
It was just a wonderful goal Ketch scored after scampering down the left.

We ended up getting beat by a set-play, and defending free-kicks and corners is huge.

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This time our guys at the back will literally need to be on their toes at all times.

When it comes to the selection there, big Grant Hanley has never let Scotland down. He’s a player I enjoyed working with.

But the big man has been short of game time lately and I think that could count against him.

I’m not too sure what kind of level Jack Hendry is playing at in Saudi Arabia.

But it’s been regular football, so that won’t be an issue.

So I’d have him alongside Ryan Porteous and Kieran Tierney in the back three.

Germany will likely have one main striker floating around — Kai Havertz probably — and they have to go and engage.

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If they don’t, that could be a real problem.

Porteous and Tierney in particular can drift into midfield areas and have to get close to people. Those two boys either side of Hendry are going to be so important.

At right wing-back I’d pick Tony Ralston ahead of Ross McCrorie.

He’s a strong boy, Tony, and physically capable of being a presence at set-plays. He’s also got a goal threat in him at times whenever he gets forward.

Che Adams would be my striker because he’s got the experience of playing in big pressure games.

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Maybe if we were playing Hungary or Switzerland first, I’d go with Lawrence Shankland. But I just think for this game that Adams is a better choice.

Shankland has to be ready to come on, though, probably after 60 minutes, because the job is going to ask a lot of Adams.

It’s going go be hard, hard work up there, that’s for sure.

You know what, though, that’s what the players will look forward to.
They have earned this opportunity because of all the effort they’ve put in, up to now.

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I think they’ll understand that the way to have success is to graft for it.

You want them to enjoy the occasion, sure.

But it’s not about waving to the family in the crowd or blowing kisses to their wives and children.

It’s not even about looking at the big name players in the Germany line-up and thinking about how big the opening game is.

No, it’s about stepping out there and being prepared to work harder than they’ve ever worked before.

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Trust me, you can enjoy that, you know.

You can enjoy closing players down, you can enjoy jumping six inches higher than you normally jump and running further than you normally run. Or making a tackle.

And you can certainly enjoy having the majority of the crowd against you.

So it’s there for these lads and they’ll know they have the whole nation behind them.

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