On, rudely, to the business of the day. Scotland is in action this weekend in a friendly with Wales in Cardiff, but that is not what I came to write about today. On Saturday, Ireland host the French in the first leg of their knockout World Cup qualifier. Winner (over two legs, of course) moves on to the big show in South Africa. For the loser, nothing.

We’ve known for far too long that Scotland wasn’t going to make this World Cup. Even before it was official, we knew it wasn’t going to happen, and so, like in so many recent tournaments, the time came to decide which side to support. Sometimes, like in Euro 2008, there is some argument. (Full disclosure – that tournament, I put my support behind Romania, and was relatively pleased with the result) This time around, at least at this stage, there is no conflict at all – I support Ireland.

On Saturday, the Irish will face a very talented French side, but there are reasons to be hopeful. There is, of course, Raymond Domenech, their bafflingly still-employed manager, who will be keen to wrest the crown of most disappointing manager on Earth back from Maradona. There is France’s underwhelming qualifying campaign, which saw them lose to Austria and somehow avoid beating a diminished Romania in two attempts. There is the fact that Ireland went through qualifying without a single loss, but with, it must be admitted, not a hell of a lot of wins either.

France will be the favorite, especially in Paris, but remember, my Irish friends, remember what Scotland did two years ago. We beat them in Glasgow, and we beat them in Paris. We didn’t qualify, but let’s gloss over that bit for now. It can be done. It’s no kind of safe bet, but I’ll take Trappatoni and Shay Given over Domenech and Hugo Lloris any day of any week.

Good luck to Ireland. I hope very much to see a win, and to see you in South Africa.

Netherlands – #3 – 1360 pts
Scotland – #24 – 815 pts
Norway – #46 – 640 pts
Macedonia – #64 – 507 pts
Iceland – #93 – 386 pts

Clearly, the top two in the group are where they belong. The surprise right now is Norway bringing up the rear, but I believe they will get some results in the second half of the group, hopefully not against us. Mon the Scots.

Let me add that I agree with the SFA on this: In no sense am I calling for a UK football team. Not now, not ever. But a Home Nations tournament, with all the rivalry that comes with it, would be doubly interesting if a spot in the Olympics was up for grabs. I would love to see Scotland v. England in that situation. I’ve made no secret here of the fact that I miss the Home Championship, and want more matches with our close neighbors.

The SFA is not going to budge on any issue that affects its possible independence, and the London 2012 committee isn’t going to give up any possible chance to field a side for football at the games. I say it’s win-win. I expect no such logic to prevail in the halls of the English FA … but a man can hope, can’t he?

Keepers:
Craig Gordon (Sunderland), David Marshall (Norwich), Allan McGregor (Rangers)

Defenders:
Graham Alexander (Burnley), Darren Barr (Falkirk), Christophe Berra (Hearts), Kirk Broadfoot (Rangers), Gary Caldwell (Celtic), Jamie McAllister (Bristol City), Gary Naysmith (Sheffield United), Davie Weir (Rangers)

Midfield:
Scott Brown (Celtic), Kris Commons (Derby), Darren Fletcher (Man United), Paul Hartley (Celtic), James Morrison (West Brom), Barry Robson (Celtic), Kevin Thomson (Rangers)

Forwards:
Kris Boyd (Rangers), David Clarkson (Motherwell), Steven Fletcher (Hibernian), Chris Iwelumo (Wolves), Shaun Maloney (Celtic), James McFadden (Birmingham), Kenny Miller (Rangers)

Congratulations to Chris Iwelumo for his first full senior call-up to the Scotland side. If only it wasn’t at our deepest position. Frankly, striker is not where we need new blood. Boyd, Miller, Maloney and of course McFadden are fine finishers on their day, and Clarkson and Fletcher are great future prospects. As much as I like Iwelumo and Wolves this season, I would have liked to see another midfielder in there, rather than a seventh striker we won’t use. My suggestion would be Michael Stewart from Hearts – 3 goals in 8 appearances and two of them worth three points each to the club.

After relaxing their fantastically, ridiculously stupid demands (they originally wanted 100% of the gate and 100% of the TV income … why exactly would we do that?), the Argies have agreed to a somewhat more reasonable deal, which should bring a smile to the face of George Burley. Poland and Portugal already rejected offers for the same date, so there was the real possibility we would let an important friendly date, the only one between the World Cup qualifiers with Norway and Holland.

You can’t ask for better competition than Messi, Tevez and the rest of the Argentina squad (or whoever they end up sending). Here’s one I’m really looking forward to – well done to the SFA for finally making the deal, and for keeping the highest ticket price in the place at only 35 pounds.

First, the group stages. Since my ridiculous obsession with this sport is going to force me to watch all the games I can, I want to have a favorite in each of the four groups. My group A support is going to Turkey, because I can’t bring myself to root for Portugal and the Czechs are still going to be enemies in my eyes, since the May 30th Czech-Scotland friendly will be only a week past. And Switzerland? Yeah … no. In group B, I’m joining the Tartan Army and going with Poland. My family’s roots are in Inverness, also the home of my favorite club, and like most of Scotland, Inverness has seen a huge influx of Polish immigrants in the past five years. They have been fantastic neighbors and ingratiated themselves into Highland life very well. They really do deserve our support, and they have mine. In group C, it has to be Romania, for three reasons. First, I am covering the Tricolorii for World Cup Blog, and I’d like to have more than just the first week of matches to cover. Second, Marius Niculae of Caley Thistle might just make an appearance, which gives them a link to my club allegiance. And also, what could be better to shut up the constant bickering between Italy and France than for Romania to beat them both? Then, there’s group D, where I’ve decided to go for Russia, mostly for two Zenit players, Pavel Pogrebnyak and Slava Malafeev, who have really impressed me in their UEFA Cup run.

When it gets to the knockouts, if any of the above teams actually survive (none are favorites), I’ll have to pick and choose my favorites by the individual match. Frankly, if Poland and Turkey end up playing, or Romania and Russia, I’ll be so happy at how the group stages went that I’ll hardly care much who wins it.

Croatia does get an honorable mention, for doing the business against England and keeping them out. That Poland-Croatia match might just need to be a draw.

Now, the plans have taken another blow. Because of fixture congestion, the start of the Four Nations has been put off until at least 2011. This is a real disappointment for me, and should be for all Scotland fans. We had a chance to mix these Four Nations matches in between our World Cup qualifiers next year. It would have provided a chance to not only play more games, but to play ones that really meant something to Scotland players. The recent rise in quality of both the Northern Ireland and Wales teams made it that much more interesting. Now, it will be at least a year after the World Cup before we see any sort of regional tournament.

But it’s more than just disappointing for Scotland fans, or fans of the other Home Nations. This plan, if successful, could be a template for more regional tournaments, which some people have suggested is the alternative to random friendlies. Regional rivalries make the games more meaningful, and a tournament format allows there to be a real prize for winning, besides 10 more points one way or the other in the FIFA world rankings. I personally would love to see a regional tournament for, say, southwestern Europe, with Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. Anyway, we now have at least three years to wait before we know whether the Four Nations format will have a chance to work. Oh well.

But now, it’s Celtic that is causing furor in the Tartan Army ranks. It seems that the Bhoys will be on a Japanese tour in the end of May, during the national team’s friendly in Prague with the Czech Republic.

Now, I’m no big fan of either Old Firm side. They are arrogant and spoiled, which I imagine I would be as well if I was in the habit of winning everything for as long as I could remember. But I have to admit, Celtic did their part in Wednesday’s friendly. Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus were really solid in defense, and Paul Hartley was adequate to the job in midfield. Scott Brown was atrocious, but you can’t fault him for not showing up, at least in a literal sense.

I understand the club vs. country conflict. But club friendly vs. international friendly? Clearly, the national team takes precedence over a publicity tour, and any player that doesn’t make that known is below the quality deserving of a Scotland cap. I want the national team to be less dependent on the Old Firm, but for now, many of our best are still based in Glasgow, and it appears we won’t see a full complement of them until the first World Cup qualifier. That’s if they don’t have other plans.

“It is a bad blow losing Darren and again shows the futility of playing friendly games. It is crazy.”

Hold on a second, as I shed a single tear for Fergie and his horribly understaffed Manchester United midfield. All done. Look, I hate to see Fletch injured as much as anyone, and perhaps he could have been subbed out earlier, but just as Sir Alex would never make a substitution to free a player up for country duties, George Burley should be, and is, making decisions that favor Scotland, not Manchester United. Burley would certainly be saddened by the loss of Fletcher if things happened the other way around, but I doubt he would call into question club football’s right to exist. He sure didn’t do that when seven players suddenly came up lame (three extremely suspiciously) before the friendly.

This is the kind of club-vs-country rhetoric that makes people mad for a few weeks and then fizzles out and goes nowhere, as it should be. Sir Alex is a big deal, and one of the best coaches in the world. Scotland is very proud to claim him. But he is not bigger than the national side, and neither is his team, not in the eyes of Scots and Scotland fans. Deal with it, Sir.

In other news, does anyone know what today is? One year from today, on March 28, 2009, Scotland will travel to the Netherlands for what might be the most important match of our World Cup qualifying campaign. The return leg at Hampden will still lie ahead, but even a point on their ground will really solidify our chances at qualification, barring disasters before that point (*cough*Georgia*cough*). That will be one of the most important matches in recent Scotland history, and we’ll be all over it.