SCOTLAND will take the field at Hampden Park against Lithuania in the 2018 World Cup qualifier tomorrow night with one major advantage, namely the greater experience in the Scottish squad compared to their opponents.
Lithuanian head coach Edgaras Jankauskas knows Scottish football well having played for Hearts during the Vladimir Romanov era. Another Romanov import, Deividas Cesnaukis, also played at Hearts alongside Jankauskas and he is by some distance the most capped player in the Lithuanian squad with 64 caps – more than twice the number of any other player.
Scotland, by contrast, have six players in the squad with more than 30 caps, and Darren Fletcher has more than the entire forwards’ department of Lithuania put together.
The Scottish captain is sure to make his 75th appearance for his country in an international career which started in Norway back in 2003.
After coming off the bench in the 0-0 draw, he then shot to prominence by scoring the winning goal against Lithuania in a 1-0 win which allowed Scotland to make the Euro 2004 play-offs -the closest we have come to making a major Finals since 1998.
Four Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups and one Champions League later, the former Manchester United midfielder is captain of West Bromwich Albion and is as modest as always.
Speaking to Scottish FA’s Michael Lamont, he said: “The team hasn’t been selected yet but it would be a great honour to get 75 caps.
“It’s something I’m not thinking too much about to be honest, I’m more thinking about getting the three points against Lithuania and adding to our win against Malta.”
Fletcher knows that Gordon Strachan is currently blooding youngsters like Keiran Tierney and Oliver Burke and said: “It’s about giving them a platform to perform and giving them small bits of advice when I can.
“We need them to express themselves, be creative and make a mark for themselves.
“They can let the older players take the pressure and the other stuff that goes on.”
Gary McAllister was once Fletcher’s idol and this week he has been able to speak to the 51-year-old who won 59 caps for Scotland.
“Gary McAllister was my favourite player growing up and earlier this week we had the pleasure of him being with the squad,” he said.
“He’s got great football knowledge and he was up here to help us.
“We know how close he is with the manager and whenever we have any ex-players up with the squad, you see all the players really take notice because they grew up watching players like them.”
After 13 years with the national team, Fletcher says the current squad is one of the strongest.
He said: “You look around the squad, the manager has selection headaches in every position.
“It shows people are competing for places and when you have a tough campaign and pick up injuries, we have plenty of options.
“We are in a good place at the moment.
“It’s been a while since we have played Lithuania. There are no easy games in international football and we’ll have to be on top form if we want three points on Saturday.
“With the crowd behind us anything is possible. We need the fans as they are a big part of what we’re about.
“Making Hampden a daunting place to come will help us qualify and the fans will play an important part if we want to achieve success.”
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