THE DIMINUITIVE Gordon Strachan is a big man.
Hugely underrated in a coaching career which brought him success with Celtic and Southampton, the Scottish manager has re-energised a team who were on the fast-track to nowhere under his predecessor Craig Levein.
Now they fear no one, a point clearly illustrated on Sunday 23 February at the Acropolis Convention Centre when Peter Schmeichel placed Scotland’s name in Ireland’s qualifying group, where they will keep company with Germany, Poland, Georgia and Gibraltar.
“Yes!” shouted Strachan from the audience, telling you everything you need to know about how Ireland are perceived by rival nations.
It also tells you how Strachan and Scotland — following on from back-to-back victories over Croatia — are once again oozing with self-belief, knowing that while Germany are stand-out favourites to win Group D, Scotland, Ireland, Poland and perhaps Georgia all have genuine ambitions of scrapping for the second automatic qualifying spot.
Mention of Germany forced Strachan into a trip down memory lane, to 1986 and the World Cup finals, when his diminutive size forced him to abort an attempt to leap over the advertising boards at the back of the German goal he had just scored into.
“Let’s just say this challenge represents a bigger hurdle to get over than that advertising board,” laughed Strachan. “But I think we are quite pleased with the draw. We’re excited about it, but it’s also quite daunting as well.
“After Germany, you have four teams, any one of which is capable of finishing in second place. People might think it will be between ourselves, Poland and the Republic of Ireland but I think Georgia will be in the mix as well.
“I have walked out of that hall feeling that we have a chance of straight qualification and that’s a good thing.”
But for Ireland, a rejuvenated Scotland is a bad thing. Ranked as fourth seeds due to the sins of their fathers, this current side have improved dramatically since Strachan took charge, a point Martin O’Neill didn’t shy from making.
For the Ireland manager, renewing old friendships with Strachan was the last thing he needed. England’s group, containing Switzerland, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania and San Marino was precisely what was required.
“We probably have the toughest group,” said O’Neill. “Georgia are probably the toughest side from Pot Five.”
Really?
While the Georgians have pedigree, holding France to a scoreless draw in the last campaign, their recent history tells of a team who are capable of the occasional stand-out result, but of little consistency, having finished higher than fifth just once in their last six qualification attempts.
In contrast, Iceland — also lobbed in with the fifth seeds — made it to the play-offs for Brazil. Ireland, no matter what O’Neill says, dodged a bullet.
Similarly, getting Poland was a godsend.
The fact remains that history has a tendency to distort our image of teams, offering them a respect they no longer deserve, and while the temptation is to look at Poland in 1974 and 1982 terms, when they came within a match of reaching the World Cup final, the reality is that the current generation lack class.
Clearly, their Borussia Dortmund pairing — Robert Lewandowski and Jakub Blaszcykowski — are exceptions to that particular rule but even they have failed to recreate their club form at international level over the last 18 months, Lewandowski scoring just three times for his country since Euro 2012.
Worse again, Adam Nawalka, their latest managerial incumbent, is feeling the heat. Booed off the pitch after Slovakia inflicted a 2-0 home defeat in November, he had similarly tough questions to answer after drawing another blank against Ireland four days later.
“We know we have to go out and regain our people’s trust,” said Nawalka. Yet he has lost the trust of one player, Mateusz Klich, who used his Twitter account to vent his fury against the current regime. Nawalka, however, is refusing to shift from his experimental policy.
“Let’s go back to my initial strategy,” he said. “We lost out in the World Cup. We lost out in the Euros. We need to test new players. They deserve their chance. That doesn’t mean that those I have dropped will not get another opportunity. I’m here to try things, that’s all.
“We have a squad with potential. That’s why I am so optimistic. Yes, we looked disastrous against Slovakia. But against Ireland we learned.”
What Nawalka is likely to learn over the next 18 months is how over-dependent he is on Lewandowski. When his form dips, so does his team.
With Germany destined to finish first and Gibraltar last, the group within the group leaves four teams battling for one automatic spot and one play-off position.
Is it really that daunting a task considering that one of those sides, Georgia, have not scored in their last six games? Strachan aside, the hurdles up ahead are not overly daunting.
