George Burley admitted yesterday that he was facing the biggest game of his managerial career when Scotland meet Holland at Hampden Park in their final World Cup qualifying tie on Wednesday night.
Burley also said following Saturday’s 2-0 win over FYR Macedonia that he felt he had “not been shown the respect I deserve” in his 20 months in the Scotland job. Wednesday’s game, depending on how the other eight qualifying groups finish, may be his last match in charge of the national team.
The SFA was yesterday exploring whether James McFadden’s yellow card and subsequent suspension for the Holland match could be rescinded, following his bizarre booking by Wolfgang Stark, the German referee. That outcome, however, seems unlikely.
Burley maintained that beating Holland and ending up on 13 points in group nine — with a chance of grabbing a play-off spot — remained a realistic possibility.
“Our mindset now is to beat Holland,” the Scotland manager said. “It will be 11 versus 11. Of course Holland have world-class players, we know that, but we will have the passion and the commitment to win the game. It can be done. We will not be going in there thinking we can’t beat them, because we can.
Advertisement
“We will be at home, in front of 50,000 people, playing against Holland for a place in the World Cup play-offs. We will be ready for it. We know we can do it.”
There was continued speculation yesterday about Burley’s future at the SFA, though the Scotland manager said that was the last thing on his mind. He did, however, take aim at those whom he said had not shown him the respect he deserved with Scotland.
“I’ve been a manager for a long time and I’ve got nothing to prove,” Burley said. “I’m in this job because I’ve done it, and some people don’t realise that. Some people don’t give me the respect that I deserve. But I can’t stop that.
“I don’t get involved in any of that. None of that distracts me. As a manager I’ve got to stay totally focused on the job. I can’t take my eye off the ball. I’ve got to believe in me, my players and my country.
“I just focus on the job. I wanted to take this job and I’ve enjoyed it. There are certain things I can’t change, but I’m determined to do my best for my country.” Burley said that he and his players were undaunted by the threat of the Dutch, who have romped through the group.
Advertisement
“They don’t come any bigger than this game,” he said. “We will get the energy back in our legs for Wednesday. I thought we showed a tremendous appetite to beat Macedonia. I said to the players at half-time, ‘You’ll win this game — just keep going,’ and they responded. We played some great stuff in the second half.”
Gordon Smith, the SFA chief executive, admitted that he was trying to overturn McFadden’s booking with Uefa. “We will certainly be looking at it,” Smith said. “But I’m not quite sure what the situation is because he [McFadden] is claiming mistaken identity, though in many cases there is no appeal for certain decisions. None of us understood why James was booked. I don’t think James himself knew why he was booked.”
Scott Brown, meanwhile, has declared himself fit to face Holland, after taking an ankle knock on Saturday.