An encounter with the top-ranked team in the world would not be everyone’s idea of salvation, just days after a harrowing home defeat. Steve Clarke, though, insists Belgium’s visit to Glasgow might be the ideal follow-up to Scotland’s Friday night loss to Russia.
Clarke did nothing to mask the mood in the Scottish camp in the aftermath of a 2-1 defeat that probably should have been by a greater margin. “It was flat,” admitted Scotland’s manager. He bridled, however, at the suggestion that Belgium, who have beaten Scotland 7-0 on aggregate in their last two meetings, were the last side he wanted to come up against on Monday night.
“Maybe it’s a good fixture for us because I don’t think there’s any expectation,” said Clarke. “I don’t think anyone expects anything. If we are being honest, there’s not too many people in the country saying Scotland will get something out of this game. So maybe it’s a good fixture for us rather than a Cyprus away where you are thinking ‘We’ve got to go there and win.’
“It’s maybe a decent fixture for us. The players are disappointed and they want to show everybody what they are showing me on the training pitch. They want to show everybody they are a good group of players and that they are going to be the players who qualify this country for a major tournament. So hopefully we get a response.”
The former Kilmarnock manager rightly highlighted the scale of Belgium’s quality, meaning Clarke believes Scotland will have to deliver the perfect performance to deliver any kind of upset. Belgium have won all five of their Group I fixtures to date, leaving them clear at its summit. “Listen, as a team you are going to have to play a game with almost no mistakes because the top players and the top teams punish you if you make a mistake,” Clarke said. “So can we play a game with no mistakes?”
Clarke, appointed in May to succeed Alex McLeish, is not at the point – publicly at least – where the scale of his challenge is more significant than he thought. Scotland have not played in a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.
“It’s every bit as big as I thought it was but I knew it was a big job before I started,” he added. “It’s a big challenge for us because we haven’t qualified for a long, long time so there’s a lot of pressure on us to do it this time.
“The reality of modern-day life in football is that everyone wants a quick fix. If you win three games you’re a genius, if you lose three games you’re an idiot. That’s basically where we are at just now.”
Belgium arrived in Scotland minus the injured Hazard brothers, Eden and Thorgan. Roberto Martínez reported a “happy and refreshed” Romelu Lukaku. “We know this will be a very difficult game,” the Belgium manager said. “The talent is there in the Scottish national team to qualify for a tournament, there is no doubt about that.”