Scotland: Trophy Tilt

"Scotland win trophy."

You don't hear that often.

There is a chance you will tonight though.

And perhaps we could even keep the Carling Nations Cup in perpetuity.

Friday night's attendance for the Wales v Northern Ireland game was 529. That leaves the total attendance for the tournament's five games so far hovering around the 60,000 mark. Or some 5500 fewer people than could cram into the same stadium for a Jedward concert.

It remains to be seen if the Tartan Army have decided to fling a deafie to Craig Levein's plea for a 10,000 strong invasion this evening.

Whatever the attendance tonight it seems that this tournament requires some major modifications if it is to be held again.

For now though we can concentrate on the game. The title play off between Scotland and their hosts, the Republic of Ireland.

Craig Levein has announced him team:

McGregor, Whittaker, Hanley, Berra, Bardsley, Naismith, Robson, Brown, Adam, Forrest, Miller

Gary Caldwell, Stephen Crainey, James Morrison and Ross McCormack drop out of the team that so underwhelmed in the first half against Wales before recovering to post a reasonably comfortable 3-1 win.

A big night this evening for Grant Hanley. Caldwell's injury gives him a start in a central defence that has often caused concern. A first international start after only ten or so appearances for Blackburn.

Circumstance given him his opportunity, we can only hope he grabs it.

A breakthrough night in store for James Forrest as well. A first start and a first cap on the back of his successful season with Celtic.

Together Forrest and Hanley offer an injection of youth that Levein shied from against Wales. That might have been forced on him. But surely the only test of the manager's apparent optimism in the future is if players like Hanley and Forrest can be brought into the team and not look out of the place.

Elsewhere the team has a reasonably familiar look. The reappearance of the reliably resilient Barry Robson shows that Levein is far from ready to sacrifice Scotland's work ethic.

It's another new look midfield that will be charged with giving Charlie Adam the platform to dictate the game and giving Kenny Miller the service and support he needs in attack.

We've not actually played the Republic of Ireland since 2003. That game resulted in a 2-0 defeat as the Irish joined the long list of countries that proved too strong for a Berti Vogts Scotland squad.

It would be nice to think that we could despatch this season with a win. And a trophy.

Certainly tonight matches the two best teams on show.

We have to concede that we're not measuring ourselves against top quality opposition. But it means there will be less room for the periods of poor play that pockmarked the win against of Wales.

Meaningless and pointless. Perhaps. But bigger tests lie ahead and the benefits of having the squad together and in harmony might be important further down the line. The boost of having the squad together and winning might be even greater.

Certainly on a purely footballing level the tournament wouldn't seem to be doing us any great harm.

If we could win the blooming thing it might actually do us some good.

Carling Nations Cup: Scotland v Wales

Ah, Scottish footballing optimism returns with the faint whiff of a trophy to play for.

Scotland resume their Carling Nations Cup campaign against Wales in Dublin this evening.

A win for Craig Levein's side will set up a title decider against the Republic of Ireland - who thrashed Northern Irelad 5-0 last night - on Sunday.

The Welsh, of course, are not international powerhouses akin to Brazil. But Levein has warned of a tough night ahead.

Well he might.

Scotland haven't beaten Wales since goals from Davie Cooper and Mo Johnston secured a 2-0 win at Hampden all the way back in 1984.

Our last two games against them have been, frankly, woeful. The footballing equivalent of being beaten unconscious by a bunch of damp daffodils.

In 2004 Berti Vogts' Scotland were put to the sword by a Robbie Earnshaw hat-trick in a 4-0 defeat. Our defence, such as it was, held out for all 42 seconds.

In November 2009 it was George Burley's turn to do battle in the valleys. His Scotland team lost 3-0 in a performance so poverty stricken it cost him his job.

Aaron Ramsey did the damage that night. Not even six subsitutes in a 23 minute second half spell were enough to save Scotland. Or mask Burley's unsuitability for the national role.

So Levein is right to be wary.

He's already named his team. A mixture of the tried and the tested and the... Well a mixture of the tried and the tested:

McGregor, Whittaker, G Caldwell, Berra, Crainey, Naismith, Brown, Adam, Morrison, McCormack, Miller

Charlie Adam will be the one between two banks of four. Kenny Miller will do his usual one up shift.

As ever I look at the Gary Caldwell and Christophe Berra partnership and, without being disrespectful, wonder how many people in international football actually respect the centre of that defence.

Not so long ago Craig Brown was never happier than when he was naming a good five or six centre backs in his starting eleven for Scotland. Now there appears a real paucity of talent there.

That's a worry when recent evidence suggests that Wales, so often blunt and dreary, turn into rapier like attacking dervishes when faced with a Scottish defence.

Really though, there are no surprises. Levein might have been denied some players that would otherwise feature but this looks a fairly risk averse selection in a game that others - but clearly not the manager - might have seen as an opportunity for experimenting.

Should be a team capable of beating Wales though. Mind you, it's also a team capable of failing to beat Wales.

Levein has lost a bit of wriggle room by choosing the tried and tested route.

If they are tried and they are tested and ultimately fail then the manager has a trickier job finding an explanation than if a younger, newer team came up short.

Hopefully he doesn't have to do that.

A win would offer a modicum of revenge and set up a nice wee season ending trophy game on Sunday.

C'mon lads...

Scotland v Northern Ireland: Old Names For New Look Scotland

International week and all eyes are on the stadium formerly known as Lansdowne Road as Scotland make their debut in the Carling Nations Cup.

Making their debut and already playing catch-up after Ireland set the early pace with a 3-0 win over Wales last night.

Ewan Murray has more on the background to the tournament on The Guardian sports blog including the travails the Irish FA have been having with ticket sales. Fewer than 20,000 were at the Aviva Stadium last night with tickets hardly flying out the door for this evening.

I like the idea of a structured competition with some local Celtic rivalry replacing the normal sea of meaningless friendlies.

But its probably fair to say that, so far, the tournament hasn’t really caught the imagination. England’s absence is hard to ignore and I’m not a huge fan of the one venue format.

Still, worth a try and worth winning the shiny new trophy* for a moral boost for Craig Levein’s squad.

Darren Fletcher’s withdrawal - credit due to the Manchester United midfielder for how rarely he’s done that over the years - gives Kenny Miller the chance to captain the squad.

It’s been quite a 2011 for Miller, what with being the biggest thing to hit Turkey since Bernard Matthews and donning the armband for the first time.

In Fletcher’s absence my own choice as captain would be Craig Gordon but with Gordon withdrawing and Allan McGregor retaining his spot in the starting line-up, Miller’s experience probably makes him the right choice with a new look side taking the field behind him.

Scotland will start:

McGregor, Hutton, S Caldwell, Berra, Bardsley, Adams, Brown, Commons, Morrison, Naismith, Miller

A new look side although no new names. The plan seems to be a 4-4-2 with Craig Levein suggesting that he’s been rethinking the defensive tactics that led him to that unforgettable 4-6-0 formation against Czech Republic.

Adam and Brown are new central midfield pairing. Adam's season has been documented to the point of saturation while Scott Brown seems to have been rediscovering a certain spark in the last few weeks.

Scotland are unlikely to replicate the tactics both have found comfort in at club level though so it will be interesting to see how they cope.

Levein has spoken about this being an inexperienced side. But every player is already an international and none are exactly untested youngsters.

I have to admit that a central defensive pairing of Steven Caldwell and Christophe Berra doesn’t inspire me. But the only other options in the squad are Danny Wilson and Grant Hanley, neither of whom has played much first team football.

But the risk averse Levein has picked, albeit in a different formation, the most experienced squad at his disposal.

If the midfield doesn’t click and the centre of defence is left exposed we could have a few tricky moments.

Better to be optimistic and predict that we take the game by the scruff of the neck with an emphatic display of our attacking intent.

Well, maybe not.

Northern Ireland have been hit by a succession of withdrawals but the home based Scots could be facing some familiar foes with seven SPL players in Nigel Worthington’s squad.

Craig Levein is going to be hugely disappointed with anything but a win from this one.

If the midfield can find an immediate understanding I think we should be OK. Maybe that’s a big “if.” But I’ll back Scotland to win 3-1.

* The inspiration for the trophy was Dublin's Aviva Stadium, which will play host to the Carling Nations Cup tournament, between Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The trophy is silver plated, incorporating four coloured rods representing the four teams with the names of the countries engraved around the centre band.

Pic: Carling.com