Scotland Squad for first Nations Cup match

[Tug]

i see Craig Gordon has pulled out too now

here

wonder if this means Ryan might be in with a shout for a call up?

[Alex MacLeod]

i see Craig Gordon has pulled out too now

here

wonder if this means Ryan might be in with a shout for a call up?

I would think its a bit late to bother calling anyone else to Ireland. MacGregor will start with Cammy Bell on the bench.

From what I've seen of Wales and Republic I think Scotland could have a very good chance of winning this tournie and give our FIFA ranking a bit of a boost.

[Caley Stan]

According to other forums, this is the confirmed team for tonight:

-------------------McGregor--------------

Hutton----S. Caldwell----Berra----Bardsley

---------------Brown-----Adam-------------

Morrison----------Commons---------Naismith

-------------------Miller------------------

The only slight eyebrow raiser in that line-up is Steven Caldwell, and i don't think Levein had much choice given the dearth of talent and experience at our disposal in that position. Otherwise it looks to be a decent side. Always a stupid thing to say where Scotland are involved but i expect a win tonight.

[Council Juice]

Yeah thats the team I've seen everwhere else (including bbc) I think Steven Caldwell is in there to save risking damage to his brothers cheekbone (Gary is probably only in the squad as part of the meet up and train.)

A decent attacking team from the looks of it. Be interesting to see.

[ICTCM]

I struggle to see anything in Naismith which makes him so highly rated!

I'm sure that boy that plays for Aston Villa would be a better player out wide.

[Alex MacLeod]

Might just get a chance to see how Tuffey performs if he gets a game tonight

[AJS]

I struggle to see anything in Naismith which makes him so highly rated!

I'm sure that boy that plays for Aston Villa would be a better player out wide.

You referring to Barry Bannan by any chance? I agree but i think he has been injured recently.

[ICTCM]

I struggle to see anything in Naismith which makes him so highly rated!

I'm sure that boy that plays for Aston Villa would be a better player out wide.

You referring to Barry Bannan by any chance? I agree but i think he has been injured recently.

Yea thats the one, I can never remember his name.

[TheKnowledge]

Will this have any affect on our presently poor FIFA ranking?

Something Scotty said in the other thread on summer football prompted me to take a look and I see we have dropped another point, most likely due to other teams playing and gaining points while we are dormant. I presume then that if we did well in this competition that the points would potentially lift us up, even if only by a bit.

It was somewhat galling to have to go to page 2 to find Scotland while RoI (35th) and NI (38th) are on page 1. Mind you, I had to go to page 3 to find Wales (116) !

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html#confederation=0&rank=201&page=2

Some crazy conclusions that fifa have come up with. Their points system can't be working. Are England honestly the 6th best team in the world? I know they had a good qualifying campaign, but, FFS!! We should be higher but there are a few teams below us that should be higher than us.

[Alex MacLeod]

There's some wierd formula that takes account of results of games, importance of games, ranking of opponents, results over rolling twelve month period and results of last three world cups. Somehow by analysing all that they arrive at a points figure that determines placing. Nations cup games will likely rank a little higher than friendlies and if we were to win against republic we will likely move up a few places. As Republic and NI are both ranked above us we will have our points boosted by beating both. How they arrive at a figure I do not know.