Smith: Scotland won’t be afraid of France

SCOTLAND will need to fire on all cylinders to get a positive result in their qualifier against World Cup runners-up France, coach Walter Smith said yesterday.

“During qualification for the last World Cup, they (France) had a few off-days and still never lost a game so we will have to play extremely well to achieve anything at all,” said Smith.

“France are at the top of their game but we would hope we could lift our performance and take something from the match.”

According to media reports, France defender William Gallas said Scotland would be “quaking in their boots” at Hampden Park.

But Smith is confident his team will be up to the task mentally.

“We have reasonably experienced players and I don’t think they will be quaking in their boots in any shape or form,” said Smith.

“We have to achieve the proper balance here, there has to be an awareness that we are talking about a team who have just reached the World Cup final and qualified for a number of tournaments.

“They have a fantastic record in qualifying but also we have to keep in mind if we are to achieve anything at all then we have to look at the attacking aspect of it.”

Holland coach Marco van Basten will be looking to put a turbulent week behind him as his side meet Bulgaria in a Group G qualifier in Sofia.

Much of the publicity surrounding the Dutch camp in the last seven days has been heavily centred around the well-documented feud between Van Basten and players Mark van Bommel and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Van Basten originally announced a 22-man squad for the clash, but after the withdrawal of Van Bommel and an ankle injury to Ajax star Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the squad is looking thin.

Huntelaar’s injury will take two to four weeks to heal, also ruling him out of Wednesday’s qualifier with Albania. Celtic striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was called up to the Oranje squad on Tuesday also with a slight ankle injury.

When the 27-year-old trained with teammates on Thursday, he sprained his ankle again, leaving him doubtful for the clash.

He will travel to Sofia, but others, including Pierre van Hooijdonk, are on standby in case the injury is too serious for him to play.

Van Basten refused to be drawn on a possible formation change to cope with the lack of attacking players, and simply acknowledged that “everything is possible” when asked the question.

It has been suggested he may revert away from his favoured 4-3-3 system to move to a more orthodox 4-4-2.

Whichever system he decides to go with, the coach is well aware his side cannot underestimate their opponents at the weekend.

“Bulgaria have some really dangerous players, like the experienced Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov,” said Van Basten.

“Their midfield is also very experienced.”

Bulgaria go into the clash with nothing to fear, according to coach Hristo Stoichkov.

His side are unbeaten so far in qualifying after picking up four points from their opening two games against Romania and Slovenia.

As a result, Bulgaria stand just behind the Dutch in second place.

Stoichkov is certain his side can get a good result on Saturday, and feels Holland are not the great force they once were.

“We don’t have to be afraid of Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie or Dirk Kuyt,” said the former striker.