Scotland manager hints at starting line-up
Craig Levein has revealed the names of some of the players who will start in Scotland’s UEFA 2012 European Football Championship qualifying match against Lithuania in Kaunas tomorrow.
The national team coach said that Rangers duo Kenny Miller and David Weir are set to start the game, while Tottenham Hotspur right-back Alan Hutton is ready to win his 16th cap if he proves his fitness.
Former Dundee United boss Levein, who is preparing for his first competitive match as Scotland manager, will not reveal his team in full until after today’s training session but said that those three would be involved.
With regards to striker Miller, who has netted five times in three matches for the Scottish Premier League giants so far this season, Levein told reporters that: "One of the important things is to pick players in form. Kenny Miller would probably have played anyway, but he will play tomorrow. It's good to know he's in form."
'Playing at high level'
The forward will be joined in the team by central defender Weir, who will become the oldest-ever player to turn out for Scotland at the age of 40. Levein said that: "Davie Weir is probably the best centre-back we have got at this time. He is playing week in, week out at the highest level and playing to such a standard that this type of football is something he can cope with easily."
Though Hutton has not yet featured for his club this season, Levein revealed that the defender is set to be involved. He said that: "I think everybody would recognise that he would be our first choice right-back. There has been an acknowledgement that in a lot of the games in the last three or four years he has been one of our better players."
Assistant manager Peter Houston weighed in by saying that Hutton was looking fit enough to start in tomorrow’s crucial clash. He told reporters that: "He has never missed a training session and in fact is looking really sharp and quick for the operation he had on his hernia not so long ago. People in the newspapers were maybe ruling him out but he is very, very keen and in training he looks as if he has never had any operation in the last few weeks."
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