1 hour ago
2
Sebastien Pocognoli has told those players who didn’t make his first Scotland squad not to ‘give up’ – and that the door was very much still open for them.
The new national team boss took his squad to Spain to prepare for the Nations League opener against Slovenia on Saturday.
In an extended international break, the Scots face the Slovenians twice, Switzerland and North Macedonia as they bid to get out of League B.
Pocognoli initially named a 28-man squad for the quadruple header, with Blackburn’s Kristi Montgomery promoted from the Under-21s on Monday after Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean withdrew through injury.
While players like Hearts’ Calvin Miller and Rangers’ James Penrice haven’t been called up this time, Pocognoli stressed that no one should view his first squad as being definitive.
‘There are many players who deserve to be there,’ he added.
Scotland boss Sebastien Pocognoli believes many players can force their way into the squad
Hearts winger Josh McPake is one of many exciting new recruits to be part of the Scots squad
‘It’s just the first selection. It will evolve in the future because it’s part of football.
‘Yesterday, we had two players who just stepped out of the squad because of injury.
‘That will happen, I hope as infrequently as possible.
‘We follow everybody. Sometimes it’s just momentum and timing. There are so many good talents who are may be not be there, but we follow all of them.
‘I know it’s the first selection. So, you think “it’s the first one and I want to be part of this’’.
‘It’s the worst thing to think is to just give up, because at the end, if you perform well, you will get the chance of the opportunity. Today is one (opportunity). The other day is another one.
‘The ones who are doing well here have more chance to stay in the camp for November. It’s never a closed door.’
The players were put through the paces in Spain’s La Manga complex yesterday.
Hugely impressed by the application he saw, Pocognoli and his coaches decided to curtail the session.
‘We decided to just skip the last block because the players did so well. It was quite hot,’ he explained.
‘Sometimes you just need to finish with a good feeling. Tomorrow, we will play more open games, just to see the mistakes and the good moments and then try to reduce this (mistakes) for the Slovenia game.’
