Scotland v Czech Republic

Scotland will play host to the Czech Republic in and international friendly featuring a direct clash of teams that failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Scotland boss Craig Levein has labeled this current stretch for his side as the beginning of a ‘back to basics’ approach. The nation has fallen on hard times in terms of the national football team as this will mark the 4th out of the last 5 tournaments which they have missed out on. In fact, over the last two years the only victories of note for Scotland are 2 wins over Iceland and one over Macedonia. Of note, goalkeeper Allan McGregor has been left out of the side following the incidents at a nightclub which led to the Rangers starter injuring himself. Among the new faces called up for this fixture are Paul Dixon and Garry Kenneth of Dundee United.

The visiting Czech Republic are picking up the pieces after a most disappointing qualifying stage that saw them fail to reach South Africa. They finished in 3rd place of Group 3 with 16 points from 10 matches, 4 points behind the 2nd place Slovenia and 6 points back of the surprising winners- and their arch rivals- Slovakia. There is a new manager in charge and it is Michal Bilek who will be looking to have the team improve upon their 2006 showing at the Euro Cup.

Live International Friendly,
Scotland v Czech Republic
Hampden Park, kick off 2000 hours