Scotland announce squad for March international break

Scotland will face the Netherlands & Northern Ireland

The head coach of Scotland, Steve Clarke, has called up 41-year-old custodian Craig Gordon for this month’s exhibitions with the Netherlands and Northern Ireland, saying he had “tough selections to make” in the team for Euro 2024.

After missing a year due to a double leg break, Gordon, who earned his final 74 caps in November 2022, has participated three times in the Scottish Cup.Only three keepers—Hearts teammate Zander Clark, seasoned first choice Angus Gunn, and Liam Kelly—will advance to the championship game.

“That’s the situation. It’s going to be an interesting decision,” said Clarke, who took in Gordon’s performance and first clean sheet of the season in Hearts’ 1-0 cup win over Greenock Morton on Monday.

“It gives us a chance to look at Craig up close. Three competitive games and, without being disrespectful to the opposition that Hearts have played in the cup already, probably not games where Craig was overworked. Nice to see back him on the pitch.

“The key thing is to make sure that come the start of May, I’ve got tough selections to make – everybody fit and available.

“I would imagine I’ll look at a number of players over the two games but I don’t want to be too distracted with thinking about giving people chances to play.”

Due to an Achilles injury, Celtic skipper and midfielder Callum McGregor will miss the friendly doubleheader. However, his teammates, full-backs Anthony Ralston and Greg Taylor, are included in the 25-man roster, which includes two players who are bigger than allowed at the Euros.

Brentford centre-back Josh Doig, who was included in Clarke’s previous squad, has been called up by the Scotland Under-21s to play Kazakhstan this month, while Aaron Hickey is still sidelined due to injury.

Both matches start at 19:45 GMT on March 22 when the Netherlands welcome Clarke’s Scottish in Amsterdam and four days later when Northern Ireland visits Hampden. Early in June, Scotland will finish its preparation matches against Gibraltar and Finland before the Euro 2024 finals.

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Scotland squad ahead of March international break

Goalkeepers: Zander Clark, Craig Gordon (both Hearts), Angus Gunn (Norwich), Liam Kelly (Motherwell)

Defenders: Liam Cooper (Leeds), Grant Hanley (Norwich), Jack Hendry (Al-Ettifaq), Scott McKenna (Copenhagen), Nathan Patterson (Everton), Ryan Porteous (Watford), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Andy Robertson (Liverpool), John Souttar (Rangers), Greg Taylor (Celtic), Kieran Tierney (Real Sociedad)

Midfielders: Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Ryan Christie (Bournemouth), Lewis Ferguson (Bologna), Billy Gilmour (Brighton), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Kenny McLean (Norwich), Scott McTominay (Manchester United)

Forwards: Che Adams (Southampton), Lyndon Dykes (QPR), Lawrence Shankland (Hearts)

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