STEVE CLARKE insists the "outside influence" will finish as soon as Scotland's crucial World Cup play-off match against Ukraine begins.
The national team boss is understandably sympathetic towards the opposition on Wednesday as the Russian invasion continues in the country.
But he has downplayed any impact it could have on the match as he backed his players to pause their emotions during the 90 minutes for a shot at making Qatar in 2022.
The Scottish FA were quick to postpone the initial fixture date and went on to raise more than £500,000 for Unicef relief efforts in Ukraine with a friendly against Poland.
However, when it comes to kick-off, Clarke insists the only focus will be on qualification to a play-off final against Wales.
Speaking to PLZ Soccer, Clarke explained: "We have to respect everything that goes on round about the situation in Ukraine.
"And we've already done that, we played the friendly match against Poland and we raised a lot of money to send and try and help. Obviously it was a drop in the ocean in terms of what needs to happen there.
"They (Ukraine) will be emotional, they will be desperate to give their country a boost and go to the World Cup finals but it is a game of football and we also want to go to Qatar.
"We've waited a long time to put ourselves in this position, we've worked hard to put ourselves in this position and I know the players are desperate to go there.
"Taking all that away, you look at the game of football it's a very good Ukrainian team playing against a very good Scotland team and I think it'll be a good match.
"Hopefully, the football gods are on our side and we manage to get to Qatar, or manage to play the Welsh which is the next step.
"I think the outside influence finishes when the game starts."
Asked if there were discussions of the match being scrapped or Scotland pulling out, the Scotland boss added: "We did everything we could. We cancelled the game immediately.
"We did everything we could to get in a position where Ukraine could get a team on the pitch and fortunately that's what has happened.
"They'll be well prepared and we'll be well prepared for, hopefully, a good competitive match."
