Section: Europe
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Type: IFA News
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Injuries Piling Up for Scots
Defenders David Weir and Kirk Broadfoot and winger Kris Commons have withdrawn from the Scotland squad for the upcoming World Cup double-header. All three will miss both Saturday's qualifier with the Netherlands and the home tie against Iceland on 1 April. The trio reported injured on Monday evening with captain Barry Ferguson and Stephen McManus also struggling. Ibrox full-back Steven Whittaker has been drafted into the squad with further replacements possible. Broadfoot and Weir had sat out Rangers' draw against Hearts on Saturday. Derby player Commons has been out for a month with a calf injury. Ferguson has a chest injury and will continue to be assessed at the Scotland training camp. Scotland assistant manager Terry Butcher is not too hopeful that Celtic captain McManus will recover in time from the injury that ruled him out of Celtic's weekend draw against Dundee United. Butcher told BBC Scotland: "McManus is improving day by day with his ankle so we're delighted with that. "We'll need to monitor that progress and see if he has a chance of making the Iceland game but he's determined that he wants to stay with the squad and be with us." Tottenham Hotspur defender Alan Hutton is the other main concern for Saturday's match. Hutton started for Tottenham reserves on Monday evening against West Brom in his first run-out since returning from foot surgery. The national boss also has a big decision on who to play in goal in Amsterdam with Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon again left on the bench as his club lost to Manchester City on Sunday. Despite the list of call-offs and players struggling to be fit, Butcher insists the Scots should be positive. Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland's Sports Report, he said: "It's a game that we shouldn't have any fear about. "The players from Holland are very good but we've got time this week to bed things down in the way that we want to play. "We are confident that we can get organised and make sure that the players, when they do win the ball, can go out and play." Butcher added: "There's a lot of doom and gloom in the Scottish press saying there is no chance of us getting anything from Holland. "But the players have got results before in some very hard games and every week they are playing against top players and playing under pressure. "We have players who are used to driving forward and having a go at teams, so I don't see why that should change as long as we're not reckless and leave ourselves wide open at the back." Meanwhile, Celtic midfielder Paul Hartley reckons the Scots can take something from the daunting clash in Amsterdam and rectify a slow start to the campaign. Burley's men have one win from three in Group Nine - against Iceland - which was sandwiched between an away defeat in Macedonia and a home draw with Norway. "It'd be great to get six points but if not, then four points would be fantastic," he said. "We know that it's going to be a big ask. Saturday's going to be an extremely tough game but we've shown in the past that when we're up against it and played the bigger teams, we can get a result. "I really think we can get a result. You only have to look back 18 months when we played in France and nobody expected us to get anything and we managed to get three points. "So, why not? We know they're a quality team, but we have to go there and make it difficult for them, then you never know, we may get something again." Story from BBC SPORT: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7958801.stm |
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