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Your support makes all the difference.Berti Vogts, the Scotland manager, yesterday named a skeleton squad for the Euro 2004 double-header with Iceland and Lithuania, admitting he was still undecided about who else deserved a call-up.
Only 18 players were named before the visit of Iceland a week on Saturday and the German is still mulling over the squad's final composition. Several players are in contention but they have either not been playing enough club football recently or not impressed when under scrutiny. So Vogts has decided to wait until Sunday night before finalising his selection.
"I have a lot of players on stand-by," Vogts said. "Now only 18 players are nominated. There is a match tonight and other matches on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday I will watch the cup match between Dunfermline and Rangers. Maybe five of six players will join us from the stand-by list."
The Aberdeen captain Russell Anderson, the Rangers quartet Steven Thompson, Neil McCann, Maurice Ross and Bob Malcolm, Celtic's Jamie Smith and Jackie McNamara, the Preston defender Graham Alexander and Newcastle's Stephen Caldwell were all left off the initial squad list despite featuring against the Republic of Ireland last month.
The Tottenham goalkeeper Neil Sullivan's international career may well be over following his poor showing against Ireland. The No 1, Robert Douglas, is fit again and Vogts has decided that Paul Gallacher of Dundee United and Cardiff's Neil Alexander will act as cover
Vogts has promoted two players from the B international side. The Hearts defender Andy Webster, who is the only newcomer to the initial 18, is the most startling beneficiary as he was a part-timer with Arbroath just two years ago.
The Hearts head coach, Craig Levein, expressed his delight at Webster's call-up. "We are very pleased for him and he has been doing very well recently," Levein said. "I'm not sure he is 100 per cent ready for international football but it is a reward for the improvement he has made since arriving at the club. But we are always pleased that our players are included in international squads, no matter what the level"
The Newcastle defender Gary Caldwell, who is on a season-long loan spell at Coventry, also rejoins the squad via the Future Team. Vogts said: "The Future Team has been doing so well, drawing in December against Germany and then against another strong side in Turkey."
Thompson and Ross are suspended for the Iceland game, on Saturday 29 March. It is Thompson's absence that will be felt most as West Ham's Don Hutchison has yet to start a match for his club since returning from a serious knee injury. But Vogts insisted Hutchison was worth his place in the squad. He said: "Don did very well, playing 65 minutes in Turkey. I have to watch him.
"We have a lot of training sessions both in the morning and the afternoon. I spoke to him last Saturday. I watched the Everton against West Ham match and he told me he was fit. But I don't know yet if he can play 90 minutes." Paul Dickov has earned a recall on the strength of 20 goals this season, but the Leicester City striker is due to undergo a hernia operation next Tuesday and expects to be out for three weeks.
The Wolves striker Kenny Miller, who has 19 goals this term, was also named in the squad. He played in the Future Team's 3-3 draw in Germany but has only played 10 minutes for the senior side, back in 2001.
In the Scotland Under-21 squad a new addition is Nick Montgomery, of Sheffield United, who qualifies through his Scottish grandmother. Another Englishman to make the list is David Noble after the West Ham midfielder featured in the Future Team in Turkey.
SCOTLAND SQUAD (Euro 2004 qualifiers v Iceland, Hampden Park, 29 March; v Lithuania, Kaunas, 2 April): Alexander (Cardiff), Douglas (Celtic), Gallacher (Dundee Utd), Caldwell (Newcastle), Dailly (West Ham), S Pressley (Hearts), Webster (Hearts), Wilkie (Dundee), Cameron (Wolves), Gemmill (Everton), Devlin (Birmingham), Ferguson (Rangers), Lambert (Celtic), Naysmith (Everton), Crawford (Dunfermline), Dickov (Leicester), Hutchison (West Ham), Miller (Wolves).
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