Scotland boss Gordon Strachan senses a healthy “nervous excitement” among his squad and the fans ahead of their European Qualifier against Georgia.
Scotland are aiming to continue their promising campaign in Tbilisi on Friday night and remain in touch with Group D leaders Poland who sit three points ahead of Strachan’s men with four games remaining.
Poland have put eight goals past Georgia but their most recent 4-0 win saw Robert Lewandowski net a hat-trick from the 89th minute onwards, while Republic of Ireland needed a brilliant late winner from Aiden McGeady to win at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena.
With so much at stake, Strachan senses the anticipation from the fans ahead of Scotland’s seventh match in the group.
“They are getting what we are getting,” he said. “I have had it all the way through my career when approaching good games that I look forward to, or any game, there is a nervous excitement. So we are in the same boat.
“It doesn’t mean we are apprehensive, it doesn’t mean we are scared, it means we are looking forward to it.”
Coach Stuart McCall revealed on Wednesday that two or three places in the team were still to be decided but Strachan said at his pre-match media conference: “It’s done now. The players don’t know yet. And it’s not been easy.
“I have a lot of players playing well. Whatever the team is, there will be good players on the bench.”
Scotland went out on to the Boris Paichadze surface to train afterwards with most of the surface in the shade by the time they had finished in the early evening. The game kicks off at 8pm local time but temperatures have been in the early 30s in Tbilisi and it remains warm at night. And the heat has influenced Strachan’s preparations.
“We have taken the heat into consideration in a lot of things we do – the time and how long we train,” he said.
“I don’t think we will do as much tomorrow as we will normally do, and that’s determined by the heat.
“But we did a lot of training before we came here. That determined how we trained in Scotland.”
Scotland lost on their last visit to Georgia, a 2-0 defeat which ultimately cost them a place at the Euro 2008 finals after beating France home and away earlier in the campaign.
But Strachan paid little heed to the previous encounter.
“A lot has changed since 2007,” he said. “Who would have thought you would have an iWatch in 2007? It’s amazing how things can change.”