Serbia vs Scotland: Steve Clarke says players know what’s at stake
Written by News on 11/11/2020
Scotland boss Steve Clarke says his players fully understand what is at stake and are confident they can deliver when they take on Serbia in their crucial Euro 2020 play-off on Thursday.
If Scotland secure victory in Belgrade – live on Sky Sports – they will qualify for their first major tournament since taking part in the 1998 World Cup.
Scotland are undefeated in their last eight matches, with their most recent defeat being their 4-0 thrashing in Russia 13 months ago, and Clarke believes his side can carry that momentum into their clash with Serbia on Thursday.
He said: “I think they’ve shown in recent matches that they’re certainly focused, they’re certainly determined to do well for their country.
“You can feel the mood in the camp this week has been good – quite boisterous, confident – which is where everybody wanted us to be.
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“I think the players are grounded. There’s no point in us getting carried away with ourselves. As a nation we’ve been here often before and never quite got over the line.
“This group of players understand what’s at stake and understand what’s needed to get the job done.
“I was still playing the last time Scotland qualified, so it’s a very, very long time ago. There is a generation that has definitely missed that atmosphere and feeling you get as a nation when you get to one of these tournaments, that proud feeling, so hopefully this group can deliver.”
Robertson: We must have no regrets
Captain Andy Robertson also thinks Scotland can take confidence from the form they have shown over the past year, and urged his team-mates to leave the field in Belgrade on Thursday night with “no regrets”.
He said: “We will go out there and, whether it’s 90 minutes or 120, we need to come away with no regrets. We need to walk off thinking, ‘OK, we did our all there’.
“We believe if we do that, it will be enough. If it’s not, we’ll need to deal with that.
“It’s all been positive going into this game and we believe if we can put in the kind of performances we have done over the last couple of months, it will be good enough to win the game.”
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Serbia vs Scotland: Steve Clarke says players know what’s at stake
