Craig Brown Names His Scotland Side To Face Cyprus
Scotland travel to Cyprus tonight for their international friendly match and with neither side heading to Euro 2012 it will be a chance to start the rebuilding process as attention begins to turn the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014. Scotland will face a tough task in qualifying with no easy games in their group, the opposition will be Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Macedonia and Wales. This means beating the likes of Cyprus becomes very important with a view to tougher games coming up where Scorland will need to be at their best.
Craig Brown named his side to face Cyprus on Friday morning and James Mackie looks set to make his international comeback, the QPR striker has not played for Scotland since breaking his leg earlier in the year. He will be partnered up front by Kenny Miller who has missed the last three games for Scotland through injury and suspension. Barry Robson will also play in attack for Scotland.
Darren Fletcher will play in central midfield alongside Cardiff's Don Cowie and West Brom's James Morrison. Allan McGregor will start in goal but Craig Levein hopes to give Matt Gilks some time inbetween the sticks. The defence will consist of Phil Bardsley on the left, Christophe Berra and Gary Caldwell in the centre and Steven Whittaker coming in on the right in place of the injured Alan Hutton.
Scotland look to be fielding a very strong line up for this match and there are several reason for backing Scotland to beat Cyprus and it's not just the strength of the Scotland team. In Euro 2012 qualifying Scotland were pretty unlucky to pick up just 11 points and that was in a tough group that featured Spain and Czech Republic. Cyprus however failed to pick up any wins during their qualifying campaign and teams such as the Faroe Islands even picked up more points. Scotland are a confident pick to win this match.