STEVE Clarke has warned his Scotland players they can’t let having one of the smallest crowds ever at a competitive international negatively affect their performance in the Euro 2020 qualifier against San Marino at Hampden this evening.
Only 10,000 tickets had been sold for the Group I match against the section minnows yesterday – raising the possibility that the game will break the record for the national team’s lowest home attendance at a meaningful match.
That is currently the 1976 European Championship qualifier against Romania back in December 1975 when only 11,375 turned up.
Clarke, who will start Sunderland keeper Jon McLaughlin in goals, is desperate for Scotland to produce a good display and record an emphatic victory after a demoralising four game losing run during which they have played Belgium twice and Russia twice.
The 56-year-old has warned his charges, who have three more Euro 2020 qualifiers to play before the play-offs next March, not to let the atmosphere inside the 52,000 capacity stadium to impact on their display.
“If the stadium was empty, we still have to win the game,” he said. “We have to go to the game, not looking for the crowd to give us anything. We have to go to win the game, whichever crowd is there. If we can win the game and hopefully put on a good performance, they enjoy the game and that will be the most important thing.”
Clarke, whose team suffered their second consecutive 4-0 defeat against Russia in Moscow on Thursday evening, is keen for his team to beat San Marino tomorrow and then Cyprus and Kazakhstan next month so they can go into the play-offs next year in a more upbeat mood.
The former Chelsea and Liverpool assistant stressed his personal belief that he can resurrect the fortunes of the national team had not been dented by their recent heavy reverses.
“What’s gone is gone,” he said. “Everything we want to achieve is still in front of us. We want to win the next game, so that’s in front of us. We want to win the next three games so that we finish third in the group, so that's in front of us.
“If we achieve that, then we go into March with positivity, hopefully a full house here at Hampden, with the chance to qualify for Euro 2020 through two matches, so everything that was in front of us when I came in to the job is still there in front of us to be achieved. If that's not an incentive for the players, I don't know what is.
“My confidence is good, it’s okay. I’m a quiet guy, I don’t say too much, I’m not one for jumping and shouting and ranting and raving. But I certainly don’t go into my room, turn off the lights and hide under the bed. I’m not that type of person. I’m dealing with it the way I deal with it. I’m ready to go.”
Clarke is keen for McLaughlin, who won his first cap for Scotland against Mexico in the Azteca Stadium last summer, to gain more experience at international level in case David Marshall picks up an injury and he is called on in the coming weeks.
“It was always going to be the case Jon would play,” he said. “David Marshall’s been the No.1 since I came into the job. Obviously something might happen to David over the next few months, so you need to have another goalkeeper who has had some minutes on the pitch.
“I want Jon to have the experience of playing for the national team at Hampden. It’s important to take that chance."
Clarke, though, will still field a strong side despite the visitors never having won a competitive international match and not having scored a goal in over two years.
“I definitely don’t treat San Marino lightly," he said. "We’re not in a position where we can treat anybody lightly. We’re in a position where we have to win a game of football on Sunday. Sometimes it’s hard to win any game of football.
“Yes, it would be nice to be able to give one or two a cap, but I have to look and I have to decide which is the best team to get a result.
"Don’t forget, the other night Liam Palmer got his second cap, Mikey Devlin got his first cap, John Fleck got his first cap. There have already been one or two players who have been capped who haven’t been involved before.
"If I can do that tomorrow night that’s what I’ll do – if I think that’s going to give us the result we need.
“We have to win the game. I am not thinking about what the scoreline might be. We have to win first and foremost and turn the corner."
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