The national manager says the excellent example set by Australia is one his side can aspire to. “Australia are looking round a similar range of players to us and they can come and do well,” he said. “We were in Japan recently and saw the levels of what we are going to be up against. I am not saying we would set the world on fire, but we’d be competitive. I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’d manage to achieve that.”
Evidence to support his view was seen in Italy’s opening 2-0 win over Ghana, a result that Scotland also posted when playing them in the San Siro in Smith’s first match in charge in March last year. “I hope we have a group of players that have got a wee bit of pride in their performance now,” he added. “Our next adjustment is the hardest one, which is to try and impose ourselves a wee bit more in the game and turn that defensive aspect into a more creative one and get goals, especially at home.
“Coming away to tournaments, I would hope that we could make a decent showing if we were to get the opportunity. A lot of our future will depend on how a lot of our younger players progress. They are getting a bit of an opportunity just now and it will be their progression that will decide just how good our future can be. We have just got to wait and see how they progress before we can make an assessment on how many we are getting.”
Smith also urged Scotland players to travel to Germany and watch games, believing it will increase their desire to be involved in future finals. “I’ve been lucky to go once, albeit in an assistant’s capacity (to Alex Ferguson at Mexico in 1986). It is without a doubt the highlight in anybody’s career to get to one of these tournaments. Sometimes we look at never having progressed beyond the early stages but we have managed to get there and I think it’s an achievement for us.
“It is a huge disappointment not to be involved in the two major tournaments. I think it should be an incentive for every one of them to look at. You would hope that a lot of our players will be here this summer because once you come and get involved in the atmosphere you want to be part of it. Sitting and watching it on the television is fine, you see good games and you enjoy them, but actually being here is a different ball game.”