Lee Wallace, Hearts
Wallace is young (20) and a bit rough around the edges (see: 2006 gun charge), but has seems to have really settled down, and is one of the best of the upcoming class of Scottish football. He has seen regular action this season both for Hearts and for the Scotland U-21s, and after Steven Fletcher graduated to the senior side, he’ll be keen to do the same. The apparently Celtic-free May friendly may be a chance for him, but it may still be a bit early for Wallace. Besides, he is still needed by the U-21 side, which is still very much alive in the Under-21 European Championship qualifying race.

Jay McEveley, Derby County
Of the three here, Jay is the one with the most recent Scotland experience. He made his third senior appearance against Croatia last month, taking on the left back responsibilities well, but not without stutters. At 22, he has a bit more experience in the game. France and Liverpool fans, of course, will always remember Jay as the player that broke Djibril Cisse’s leg in 2004. Defending for Derby County has certainly been an exercise in humility for the youngster, and next season will, for me, show a lot about him by his reaction to that humbling. I don’t rate him as highly in pure skill as Wallace, but perhaps higher in terms of readiness.

Kevin McNaughton, Cardiff City
The subject of my last post, McNaughton was meant to have been on the Croatia squad, but was unavailable by injury. He got another knock in the FA Cup semifinal against Barnsley, but he should return swiftly enough. Cardiff’s FA Cup run has been impressive this season, and I’d love as much as anyone to see McNaughton, and teammate Gavin Rae, lift the Cup next month, but I’d really prefer to have two wingbacks in the top flight, rather than give attackers a choice between a rock from Spurs (Hutton) and a somewhat less frightening option from Cardiff City. The issue of whether it’s better to be on a bad team in the best league, or a decent team in a weaker one, is up for debate, but for my money, we have too many players as it is in the Championship, and McNaughton is a decent option, but not yet up to snuff for a full Scotland starting position. It doesn’t help that he’s a natural right back with left back abilities, either. We need a natural left back.

So, to sum up … still looking for the perfect fit, but I see Wallace as the future of the position.

In other news …

Kris Boyd, I try to defend you and stand up for you, and this is what I get. Tsk tsk.

and … tomorrow, the FIFA rankings for this month are announced. I’ll be on here to talk about Scotland’s new placing. By my reckoning of it, we lost some points this month, and Mexico might just jump above us with their win over Ghana, but the rankings are a strange system, and hard to predict. Luckily, with World Cup qualifiers set, this is the time of year that our rankings really don’t matter all that much. Still, a high ranking is a matter of pride, and that matters to us Tartan Army folk quite a bit. More tomorrow.

McNaughton is no debutant for Scotland. He has three caps to his name, going back to 2002, when he played in our friendly loss to Nigeria. He is known as a player who can play anywhere in the back line, which will serve him well with Burley, since his position at Cardiff, right back, is currently safe and sound in the hands of one Alan Hutton. In central defense, we have Weir, Berra, McManus, Caldwell, and even possibly Falkirk’s Darren Barr. The left back position, on the other hand, is a little open. More on that soon. Meanwhile, April 17th will likely see George Burley somewhere in the stands at Wembley, watching Rae and McNaughton and planning ahead for the Czech Republic friendly just two weeks later.

Now, Berra’s play throughout the season has been recognized further afield, and the most visible suitor for his services is Wolves in the Championship. The question for me, as a fan of Scotland and not particularly of Hearts, is where would he be best utilized and best able to continue to develop as a Scotland international?

There are a number of issues at play here. First, he has quite a bit of competition in central defense. The Celtic pairing of Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell were quite effective in the Croatia match, and though his days in a Scotland shirt are coming to an end, Davie Wier certainly still plays a role there as well. He also has direct competition from Russell Anderson, who Burley chose to come off the bench instead of Berra last month. So, this is not a spot that will be gifted to Berra – he has to earn it.

As for me, though the Championship might feature some great sides and a higher level of overall quality than the SPL, (this is up for debate, certainly) I think his best move is to stay right where he is in Edinburgh. Burley formerly coached Hearts, famously taking them to top of the table before being sacked by Vlad Romanov for some ungodly reason no one but Vlad Romanov understands. It’s a side that Burley watches and cares about. Besides, a captaincy has to count for something, and no way does Berra get a captain’s armband anytime soon at Wolves. Like crosstown rivals, Hibs, though, Hearts have had a bit of a problem holding on to their talent in the past, with either the Old Firm or England coming and stealing them away. I really do hope this one is an exception.

Speaking of Hearts, there’s another defender there that should be on the radar for the Scotland national side, and that’s Lee Wallace at left back, our poorest defending position. But that’s for another post.

The other big point for Scotland was the absence of Kris Boyd. I don’t think there’s a better striker, or certainly a striker with a better strike rate, in the world who can’t get a start. I’ll have a post up on The Offside later today about this, and go into more detail, but Boyd is one of the most effective strikers in the history of the Scottish game, and Walter Smith won’t give him playing time. When he plays, he scores, often multiple times, and he is personally responsible for Rangers’ league cup win this season. That trophy belongs not in Ibrox, but in Kris Boyd’s closet. When he came on against Croatia, he was the only player for Scotland creating chances in the second half, and the only player outside of Kenny Miller’s fantastic goal that managed to create a dangerous shot on goal.

The point is, for the good of both his career and the Scotland side, I really want to see Kris Boyd leave Rangers. There are teams out there that would kill for a guy with his strike rate, and he is just plain unappreciated at Ibrox. More importantly, he’s not developing, the way he could in the Premiership, the Championship, or on the continent. Even playing in a smaller league, like in Ireland, but being the center of a team there, would be better than riding the pine in Glasgow. He deserves to play.

Stephen Pearson has found, to my mind, a perfect way of staying in the Premiership despite the utter awfulness of your team. His trick seems to be to wait until the end of the season and then transfer, not to another Prem club, but to the club at the top of the Championship. Pearson has been linked this week with Championship leaders and promotion favorites Stoke City.

I think it’s a great move for Pearson, if it works out. Unfortunately, as I harped on about earlier today, Scotland is very thin on wingers, and I would certainly prefer if one of the two we have (Pearson and Gary Teale) was able to stay in the English top flight, getting week-in-week-out exposure to the quality midfields and defenses of that league. Too many of our players are in the Championship, facing opponents that just don’t prepare them for international competition. So, good luck Stephen – I hope it works out for you and that you can stay up, even as the rest of Derby surely will not.

The captaincy is a little tricky. Most of the oldest, most experienced players on the roster, like Dailly, are those least likely to see action, and you would ideally like your captain to be on the pitch. If I had to put one name forward, it would be James McFadden. Barry Ferguson is unquestionably the team’s captain when he’s on the pitch, but if he is going to be off it, who better to inspire and lead the team than the Hero of France? Whoever ends up leading us onto the pitch, it’s only eight days now, and the excitement is building. George Burley has tipped his hand a little this week by stating that not only did March 26th birthday boy Steven Fletcher make the roster, but he will play, so we’ll see at least one of our two Edinburgh newcomers, and I expect we’ll see a bit of Christophe Berra as well. We’ll see.

So, that’s all you’ll hear about Brian Howard on this blog. Too bad, since winger is not a deep position for Scotland, but we’ll live. Appropriately, now that we know we can’t have him, he scored a hat trick this week. That’s life.

Scotland and Man United midfielder Darren Fletcher has found himself the unfortunate victim of poor bathroom maintenance after a toilet door at Old Trafford came off its hinges and smacked him in the head in the minutes following the Lyon match last week. As funny as this sounds (and it does sound funny), it was apparently a pretty serious crack, knocking him out and requiring stitches to his head. He apparently tried to open the door to get in and it came off its hinges and fell on him.

Best wishes to Fletch for a quick recovery. He’s a vital part of Scotland’s midfield, and we don’t need any off-the-pitch incidents knocking him around like this. Also, bad form to United. How much money does a team have to make before they have a decently maintained washroom? Or was it sabotage from some Arsenal spy?