Steve Clarke says the hurt of never making it to a World Cup with his country as a player is driving him to succeed in this campaign.
Clarke becomes Scotland’s longest-serving manager with 72 games when he takes charge against Belarus tomorrow and says everyone in dark blue is desperate to make it to the World Cup next year.
“I wanted to go as a player and I didn’t manage to achieve it,” the head coach said.
“I got pretty close in 1990 when I was in the pre-World Cup squad.
“That hurt. It still hurts a wee bit now that I haven’t been to a World Cup with my country.
“So I have got a chance to do it now, with a fantastic group of players who want to be the first ones since 1998 to take their country to a World Cup. Hopefully it marries up together and we can manage to achieve that.”
The head coach’s success has not only been measured in games but also by achievement after he ended the national team’s long exile from major finals by qualifying for back-to-back European Championships. Clarke admits there was real satisfaction in delivering on that target, and in setting a record personally, but is “greedy” to take the team to North America next summer.
“I’d be a bit daft if I wasn’t proud because I’m the first guy to reach that amount of games,” he said. “It’s nice, but that’s a little personal thing at the moment.
“It shouldn’t be about me. It’s about the team and it’s about trying to get to the World Cup so that’s what we’re going to focus on.
“The brief was to qualify for tournaments. We’ve managed to do that twice, but we want to do it again because we’re all greedy. The expectation was to do as well as I could. I’ve always looked at the players and you’re thinking: ‘What can we do to improve?’
“Did I think it’d last this long? Probably not, but here I am.”
Clarke and his players have made good progress towards their qualification dream, having followed a draw away to Denmark and win over Belarus in the first international camp with a 3-1 comeback win over Greece on Thursday.
That’s left Scotland in second place in the group, trailing on goal difference to the Danes, who beat Belarus 6-0 on Thursday.
As he prepares his own side to take on the Belarusians, Clarke wasn’t inclined to look on them as the group’s whipping boys and noted that Scotland’s qualification campaigns often faltered against the lesser lights of European football.
“If you want to qualify, these are the games you have to win,” he said. “You have to give yourself a platform to play against the bigger nations.
“If you drop points to the teams ranked below you, it can make qualification very difficult. If you look at our barren years, maybe we messed up against opposition we felt we should have been beating.
“In my tenure we’ve done well against the so-called lesser teams in the groups and it’s very important you get the points off these teams. It’s very important we get the points off Belarus.
“They’ll come here, they’ll be organised, they’ll be difficult to break down and until you break them down it’s a long night.”
The nature of Thursday’s win, when Greece were the better side in the first half and then took the lead before Scotland found three goals, meant the Tartan Army left Hampden on a high. Clarke hopes they are treated to a performance that earns their backing again on Sunday.
“Belarus will make it difficult but it’s up to us to make sure that we approach the game properly, which we will,” he said. “It’s up to us to make sure that we create enough chances in the game to get the crowd excited, which we hopefully will.
“The crowd need to back the players, the players need to give the crowd something to shout about and that’s what we’ll try and achieve.”
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
