STEVE Clarke last night declared that Scotland are in perfect shape for their opening Euro 2020 match against the Czech Republic at Hampden a week today after they edged to a 1-0 victory over Luxembourg in their final friendly.
A Che Adams goal ensured the national team recorded a narrow 1-0 victory in the Stade Josy Barthel over minnows who were reduced to 10 men with the first-half ordering off of Vahid Selimovic.
Clarke, whose team had drawn 2-2 with the Netherlands in Portugal on Wednesday night, admitted that he would have liked his players to capitalise on more of the chances they created in the final third.
However, the Scotland head coach - who confirmed that Billy Gilmour, the Chelsea midfielder, was fine despite having to leave the field after a physical challenge by Olivier Thill – is pleased with the condition of his squad.
“The good news is he (Gilmour) is fine,” he said. “We took him off as a precaution. The doctor will assess him over the next couple of days. But I spoke to Billy. He’s a tough boy. He’s from Ardrossan so he must be. He is fine so that’s good.
“But let’s not make that the big story. The big story is we’re now fully prepared for our first tournament in 23 years. So let’s look forward to it.
“We are in a good place. We have had two defeats in 16 games. We have freshness in the squad. It was good exercise good training camp, two good friendlies and I can’t wait for next week.”
The only outfield player not to feature in the pre-tournament friendlies was John Fleck, the Sheffield United midfielder who was forced to quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus in Spain last week.
But Clarke confirmed the former Rangers player was set to come out of self-isolation and would be in contention for the England game at Wembley on June 18.
“He is up for consideration for the tournament,” he said. “John will join us in the middle of next week. He will get the option when he comes out of quarantine to go home for 24 hours and see his family. Or he can join us straight at the training camp.
“Because he’s been in his room isolating it would be a long shot if he is ready for the first game, but he will certainly be ready for the next game.”
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