Scotland Team for NI Friendly

This is late, but better late than never, and so here’s George Burley’s squad for the last friendly before World Cup qualifiers begin, next Wednesday against Northern Ireland. There are some new faces, and some old favorites, and a few surprises, which is always good to see for a friendly before a big campaign. Burley has targeted 17 points as our minimum to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, which will mean more than 2 points per match in our 5-member group, and will require us to either win all six matches against opponents other than the Dutch (Norway, Iceland and Macedonia twice each) or to take at least something off of Holland. Here they are:

GK Craig Gordon
GK David Marshall
GK Allan McGregor
DF Darren Barr (Falkirk – No Caps)
DF Christophe Berra
DF Gary Caldwell
DF Callum Davidson
DF Stephen McManus (c)
DF Kevin McNaughton
DF Gary Naysmith
DF Steven Whittaker (Rangers – No Caps)
MF Scott Brown
MF Kris Commons (Derby – No Caps)
MF Darren Fletcher
MF Paul Hartley
MF James Morrison
MF Gavin Rae
MF Barry Robson
MF Kevin Thomson (Rangers – No Caps)
FW Kris Boyd
FW David Clarkson
FW Steven Fletcher
FW James McFadden
FW Kenny Miller

So, three debutants have their chance to at least get on the pitch. That match is August 20, and I’ll try to have a bit more on it before then. Still settling into my new city, job, etc.