Steve Clarke has claimed that Haiti’s thumping win against New Zealand has underscored the difficulty Scotland face in their opening match.
Preparing for their first World Cup since 1974, the Caribbean nation dismantled the Kiwis in Fort Lauderdale with a 4-0 win on Tuesday.
Scotland are widely expected to take care of Haiti when they clash in Boston next weekend. But Clarke felt their performance in Florida should serve as a warning to those who believe his side only have to turn up to claim a victory.
‘They were good the other night. I think you could see that,’ said the Scotland boss.
‘We have a terrible habit, not just in Scotland but the UK in general, of looking at these nations and thinking they are not very good or looking at where they are ranked in the world.
‘They play in a different section of the world. Maybe their section is really good.
Steve Clarke says Haiti’s performance in the 4-0 win over New Zealand was no surprise to him
‘I think if you watched them play the other night, they were much better than New Zealand. Big, strong, physical. And also technical.
‘They have good players who play in good leagues. I was never under any illusion it was going to be a tough game. It is probably nice that some people get to see how they played the other night. It is going to be a difficult game for us.’
Managed by Frenchman Sebastien Migne, Haiti had a sound defensive structure and demonstrated a willingness to attack in numbers.
‘Yeah, they have a freedom about themselves,’ Clarke added. ‘You can’t say it’s ‘free-style” because the structure of their team is actually pretty good.
‘And their athleticism to get around the pitch makes that structure quite difficult to play against.’
Scotland’s final warm-up match takes place in New Jersey this evening against Bolivia.
Clarke reported no major injury concerns, with each man in the 26-man squad in contention to play.
Ruben Providence hits Haiti’s opener in the win over fellow World Cup minnows New Zealand
Despite Billy Gilmour picking up a knee injury against Curacao which ruled him out of the World Cup, the manager is adamant that he won’t be holding anyone back.
Asked if Gilmour’s injury could influence who he picked, Clarke added: ‘Do you want to wrap them in cotton wool and (they) don’t train?
‘You need to work. Injuries are part and parcel of football. When it happens, especially when it happens in the circumstances it happened to Billy, it is really disappointing. Everybody has got to take a deep breath and move forward again. That is what we will do.
‘No, selection is straightforward. We have to do what we have to do to prepare for the Haiti game. Some players need minutes. I need to see one or two players in position on the pitch then we have a week to prepare for the first game.
‘It is all about preparation, there is no trying to protect players. Injuries unfortunately are part of football. We don’t expect any, but you never know.’
Clarke is adamant that he’s still a long way from finalising his line-up for the Haiti game.
‘There are always places up for grabs,’ he stressed. ‘There are always little niggles in training. You have to be ready for every eventuality and that is what we will try and do.
Clarke is refusing to wrap his players in cotton wool after Billy Gilmour’s injury blow
‘Obviously, the boys are getting excited as the start of the tournament comes up. The first game is not too far away now. When we finish here, we travel to our base camp in Charlotte so it is getting close and it feels like that.’
Meanwhile, Lewis Ferguson has revealed how the squad gave Gilmour his own space after the Napoli midfielder learned the devastating results of the scan on his knee.
The Bologna man himself missed Euro 2024 with a serious knee injury and felt the right thing to do was to give Gilmour time to process the news.
‘I was speaking to Billy before he got his results back and you don’t want to say too much because you don’t know what’s coming,’ Ferguson said,
‘Once he got the results, we left him alone because you need a bit of time to process it. Especially in that moment, just coming off a game when everyone’s together. It’s a difficult one to take.
‘So, I left him alone, I didn’t speak to him that night as he needed a bit of space. I gave him a text the next morning and said I’d been through similar.
‘But his was so close, he was in the preparations and we were leaving the next day. So, it was really difficult for him to take. I left it for a wee bit before texting him.
‘I saw him at the hotel the next morning and he was in good spirits, like he always is. I’m just gutted for him because this was such a big opportunity.’
