Seven out for Croatia match

Ahh … international friendly dates. There’s nothing like them to produce short-term injuries in players for top clubs. Just as Portugal has to deal with Ronaldo and Nani coming up mysteriously lame (and then, most likely, healthy again on Saturday), Scotland has our own dubious injury worries. No less than seven players have pulled out of George Burley’s first Scotland squad for variety of injuries. Some I believe … others not so much.

First, Rangers. Four Bears in total have pulled out, including Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Christian Dailly, and backup keeper Allan McGregor. Ferguson for one is legitimately hurt, and we’ve known for a while that he wouldn’t be available for the match. Dailly has a broken toe, so he’s off the hook as well. McCulloch is probably the biggest loss, along with McGregor, who I think has earned a half in goal against Croatia, but now we’ll never know if he would have gotten it. The only Celtic player to pull out is Barry Robson, who will be missed in midfield. With Saturday’s Old Firm matchup looming, no one expected Glasgow to come up strong for us. Luckily, at least Kris Boyd finds himself in good health … I wonder if his shocking inability to find a starting spot at Rangers has anything to do with that?

Stephen Pearson of mighty Derby County also finds himself unable to play, which delights me to no end, as I have never thought him to be particularly up to the task of international duty. All these cancellations should leave plenty of room for younger Scots to make an impression, though it does make Burley’s job that much harder when he doesn’t have some of Scotland’s best at his disposal.

In other news, the two summer friendly dates have been filled. Scotland will face the Czechs in Prague on May 30, and Northern Ireland on August 20 at Hampden. Both good opponents, and the visit of the Irish should be especially fun.