Deadpan Steve Clarke has guaranteed he won’t let his players blow their big chance of a golden ticket to Euro 2024 by getting carried away by their own heroics.
The nation was still gently floating on cloud nine yesterday after Clarke pulled off a stunning late win in Oslo on Saturday night to leave Scotland top of Group A, with nine points from three opening games - looking down on Spain and leaving Erling Haaland’s qualification hopes in tatters.
It could get even more heady tomorrow at home to Georgia when Clarke has the chance to become the first manager in the country’s history to rattle off four sussessive qualification wins in the same campaign. But, with the Tartan Army already digging out the passports for next summer’s finals in Germany, the stoney-faced Clarke is banning all talk of the prospect and refusing to let Scotland’s players get ahead of themselves before the job has been properly completed.
He said: “All I can try to do is keep everybody’s feet on the ground and focus on the next game. Because if we mess it up on Tuesday night - if we don’t get three points - we’re looking back and thinking, ‘This could be a tough second half to the campaign,’.
“I’m talking about my staff, my players. If you guys want to get excited you can. If the supporters want to get excited they can.
“But we have to stay focused. Hopefully we qualify and then we’ll get excited and look forward to the tournament. But first? Let’s get the required amount of points.
“You have to focus on the next game. The time for the players and the staff to get excited is actually when we’ve qualified. So don’t worry - I’ll bring them down to earth!”
But it was party time in Norway’s sweltering capital on Saturday as Clarke’s late tactical switch and raft of late subs turned a 1-0 deficit into a glorious away day win. The result means back-to-back wins in the next two games against Georgia and Cyprus will all but secure direct access to the next major tournament, without the need for a play-off.
But, before boarding the team flight home on Saturday, Clarke expressed his concerns that the jubilant Tartan Army might be left to pick up a hefty tab to go with the hangovers. He said: “Yeah, I just hope they don’t spend too much! They’ll need to stay calm tonight because it’s an expensive city to have a few beers.
“Listen, it’s great and I think, towards the end of the game when the lads needed a little lift, you could hear the Tartan Army. And that’s really important to us because we want to do well for them - we want to do well for the whole country - and I think this group of players have shown that.“
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