Scotland have earned the respect of England manager Gareth Southgate and should feel confident about winning Tuesday’s Auld Enemy friendly at Hampden, according to boss Steve Clarke.
The nations will clash in a fixture to mark the 150th anniversary of the Scottish FA, with Scotland buoyant after Friday night’s 3-0 win in Cyprus which maintained their perfect Euro 2024 campaign so far. Their next three fixtures are tough – England on Tuesday and Spain and France in an away double-header in October, the latter another friendly – but Clarke was relaxed and upbeat about their ability to match some of the world’s best.
The ancient rivalry between Scotland and England would guarantee that Tuesday night would be important to both sides, he said. Scotland have not beaten England since 1999, and not at Hampden since 1985.
“The game for us will be serious,” said Clarke. “In some friendlies you can relax a little bit and we can be a little bit more relaxed after the win in Cyprus. But we want to win. We’re playing England. They’ll want to beat us and we want to beat them.
“I know Gareth and [assistant manager] Steve Holland pretty well. They’ll respect us. They’ll understand. I bump into them on the circuit down south and they understand we’re a team that’s improving. We’re a team that’s getting better. You only need to look at our recent results to know we can give them a decent game on Tuesday night.
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Clarke has said his side will have the respect of opposite number Southgate, following their 100 per cent record in the Euro 2024 qualifiers
ALEX MORTON / GETTY IMAGES
“Listen, we have players who are playing at a good level. We should go into this game with confidence, why not? We haven’t lost a competitive group stage game for a long time now. With the current momentum we’ve got, I think we can take that into the game.
“It could be a great night. We’re playing England at Hampden and it’ll be a memorable occasion on the 150th anniversary. I’m proud to be the head coach for such an important game against the boys from down the road. It’s going to be a good night no matter what happens in Oslo.” If Norway and Georgia draw there on Tuesday night, Scotland will qualify for the Euros.
The victory in Larnaca built on the previous group wins over Cyprus, Spain and Georgia at Hampden and Norway in Oslo. “It was another indication of how strong the mentality of this group is. They didn’t want to go there and have that little slip up that people expect from a Scottish side. I think anybody who has watched this group of players over the last couple of years will tell you it’s not really in our make-up. Listen, we know we have a good squad of players. I’m lucky to be their head coach. Every time we ask them a question, they come back. Even in adversity.”
Clarke raved about a desperate tackle by Ryan Porteous to deny Cyprus a near-certain consolation goal in the last minute. “For me, [that was] the best moment of the game. That tells everybody what we are about. We didn’t want to concede. That block at the end tells you everything about this team and the mentality they’ve got. I just love defending like that.”
