FOR so long, simply getting to a major tournament was the goal for Scotland. But if anything, that taste of being back in the big time last summer made their World Cup play-off defeat to Ukraine sting all the more for both players and supporters.
The ambitions have now shifted, and even though Scotland will once again be relegated to a watching brief when the action gets underway in Qatar this November, the aim must now to be to make qualification to major tournaments the bare minimum requirement.
That’s a view certainly shared by goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who says there is a steely determination within Steve Clarke’s squad to prove that not only are the players better than they showed in midweek, but that they will be no one-tournament wonders.
“We’re been successful in recent years – getting to the Euros was huge for everyone,” Gordon said.
“We’ve missed out on the World Cup but we don’t want to be a team that’s only got to one tournament, we want to go back again.
“Everybody’s desperate to re-live that and have another shot at it but we need to play better than we did against Ukraine and we need to go out and win games.
“We have to [bounce back quickly]. We’re professional players and that’s what happens – you get disappointments in your career. There haven’t been many as big as this one, though.
“But we have to respond, we have to get together and come back and start the next campaign. We want to be known as a team that gets to tournaments and to do that we need to win these [Nations League] matches.
“We have to use anything we can to motivate us to start again. It’s a difficult one to take but the preparation for the next one started on Thursday. We need a good result so we stick together as a group and go again.”
On paper, at the age of 39, it may be thought by some that an appearance at a major tournament may now be beyond Gordon, but he isn’t ruling out even having a go at making the next World Cup.
“How much thought have I given to how long I go on? None,” he said.
“It wasn’t in my thinking at all before Wednesday and you’ll need to ask the manager but if he wants to continue picking me.
“I’ll just keep playing and see what happens.”
