Fads out for Croatia friendly

Lame. Scotland and Birmingham striker James McFadden is officially out of contention for Wednesday’s match with Croatia at Hampden, because of having a keyhole surgery on his knee today. He’ll miss two matches with Birmingham in addition to missing out on his 38th Scotland cap. The timing is too bad, considering his good recent form with Birmingham, with four goals in six starts since his move from Everton, but we’ll need that knee healthy more urgently this fall when the World Cup qualifiers start up. McFadden’s exclusion makes it even more likely that we’ll see Hibs youngster Steven Fletcher take the pitch on Wednesday for his first Scotland senior appearance. After the weekend matches finish up, I’ll have a detailed club report from this weekend to see just who is most on-form going into George Burley’s first match in charge. I’m really getting excited for this match now, and I can’t wait for kickoff. Mon the Scots!