Scotland Lose Graham Dorrans and David Marshall
Graham Dorrans and David Marshall have withdrawn from the Scotland squad ahead of this week’s friendly against Sweden.
Midfielder Dorrans, of newly-promoted English Premier League Club West Bromwich Albion, has been complaining of a groin injury. Meanwhile, Cardiff City goalkeeper David Marshall has been ruled out due to an elbow problem.
They join several other players to have withdrawn from manager Craig Levein’s second game in charge of the national side, the last international friendly before Scotland take on Lithuania and Liechtenstein in crunch 2010 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying ties next month.The other players who have left the Scotland camp are: Lee McCulloch, Alan Hutton, and Andy Webster, while Craig Gordon and Gary Caldwell were not called up due to injury. Celtic captain Scott Brown is also reportedly struggling with a foot injury.
Levein is disappointed that so many players have been forced out of the match in Stockholm. He told reporters: "I'm disappointed to lose some important players but it would have been worse had it happened before a qualifier instead of a friendly. The players out would not have been available even if it was a qualification match. It's not ideal not being able to use a full-strength squad against Sweden, for the last game before the Euro 2012 qualifiers begin.”
The national coach said that although a number of players who have featured for Scotland over the last several years have had to pull out of the squad, other footballers have a chance to impress ahead of the crucial qualifiers. He added that the withdrawals give “others an opportunity to put themselves in contention and we have added a couple of young players with great potential.”
Levein has called up three players to compensate for the losses: defender Garry Kenneth and midfielder Scott Robertson, both of Dundee United, and goalkeeper Iain Turner of Everton.
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