Steve Clarke ready to cast net wide for Scotland’s first World Cup this century

Scotland manager Steve Clarke is determined to give everyone a chance to stake their claim for a place in his squad for their first World Cup since 1998.

The 62-year-old is confident he will fill his 55-man quota for FIFA’s mandatory provisional pre-tournament list even if he accepts many of those will not get near to making the final cut for the summer showpiece in North America.

“It’s a FIFA requirement where you put in a squad of 55 names – I’m definitely number 55!” Clarke joked when surprise was expressed at the idea of him reaching that number.

“I’ll find 55, for sure, and your 26 will come from that group. Hopefully I don’t forget about anyone. We’ll work on it – Steven Naismith (who retired in 2021) wants another cap!

“You are looking for the squad; the starting XI is a long way away as the tournament is not until the summer.

“Previous experience will tell you maybe you go to that tournament without the full complement of players you think you are going to have.

“We will have a few players on standby but I won’t make public the standby list.”

Clarke has promised a significant number of changes for the friendly against Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium as he wants to have the opportunity to widen his net.

“There are a lot of people trying very hard to impress, which is great, which is what you want,” added Clarke, who detailed what he wanted to see from those he selected.

“An understanding of the system we are playing – I’ve explained to them why we’re playing it – and good execution of that system on the pitch and then from individual players you are looking or certain things I’ve spoken to them individually about.”

Clarke accepted rising expectations as they continued to qualify for tournaments inevitably meant there would be some unhappiness if performances and results did not go the right way.

But he brushed off the discontent shown by fans after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Japan.

“People can look at it any way they want,” he said. “We are all on the same page and if we are all on the same page other people can think what they want.

“I didn’t speak to them about it (booing). I don’t know if they were stung or not as we didn’t actually talk about it. For us it wasn’t a big issue.

“The more you do, the better you are, the more people expect from you. I think I’d rather have it that way than have people who are not too bothered.”