Steven Naismith has been on the Scotland scene long enough to have built up a bigger collection than most of “oh so close” greatest hits.
So it is with a fair amount of authority that the experienced Norwich City forward suggests the time has come to give the nation an occasion that is “oh so good”.
Naismith has amassed his 43 caps over the best part of a decade. There have been very good Scotland performances in that period, sometimes against the very good teams. Sealing a win that would turn a campaign or define a generation has proved beyond any of the national sides he has been a part of however.
And there’s a determination to change all that with a Wembley win tomorrow night.
“I’ve been in so many games where it has been “unlucky’,” he said. “It’s crap at the end of the day.
“Holland at home, we played great. Get beat 1-0. Against Spain, the world champions, we concede in the last minute and lose 3-2.
“There have been so many games like that. Hopefully we are due one, like people say. We have been ‘oh so close’ so many times. It is about time that we do change.
“Against Spain, okay, I scored a great goal against a great team. But we got beat. Over my time in the international team, it has been like that for too long.
“We have got match-winners. You look at Snoddy. He comes back at the weekend there and is a match-winner.
“We maybe don’t have as many of those players as some, but we do have guys with quality who can do damage.
“I don’t think it’s about luck. There might be a small element of that but we can’t accept the hard luck story. It’s easy to say that because it has been and gone and it’s ‘we tried our best’. But we want to do better than that.
“Like at the Euros when you see everyone else going. We want to be there.
“Everybody is like that in the squad. No-one saunters along thinking they are happy to be here. There is a drive to be there.”
Does it rankle being classed as a nearly man in nearly teams?
“It does, aye,” Naismith admitted. “The guys who are playing in England are coming up against these top quality players on a regular basis.
“In my time at Everton, we gave a fair few of them a run for their money and beat them comfortably with some good performances.
“So you can do it. You definitely can do it.
“There’s probably only been one team where I’ve thought it was something else and that was Spain when they were the world champions.
“Against everyone else, I’ve felt we have gone into the games thinking we can get a result, that we can do it. That has got to be the belief to get us there.”
Recent Scottish performances against big European football nations and a personal memory bank of the underdog having his day are fuelling Naismith’s conviction that tomorrow’s match is winnable.
The 30-year-old said: “In games against Germany and Poland we went into them confident and looked solid and that’s what we need to be on Friday.
“The England squad has great quality which can win you a game. We maybe don’t have as many individual match-winners but what we have is a good team spirit and a good group of guys who understand the game and know what is expected of them.
“That can go a long way.
“People will be writing us off all week and saying we have no chance. But there are a number of occasions when teams who supposedly have no chance end up winning.
“I’ve played in a few of those in the past and I think this will be closer than people are predicting.
“There was a League Cup Final for Rangers against Celtic. Celtic had been doing well and had beaten us in the last game. But Jelavic scored the winner in extra time.
“It’s maybe even similar to the game in Poland last time. We ended up drawing it but in the end we thought we should have won.”
Naismith is doing his best to strip this match of its bells and whistles.
“As a player you need to see it as the next game,” he said.
“You can’t look too much into it because it will drive you crazy.
“Where we are in the campaign, we need a good result. Not because it is England but because we have had a couple of poor results.
“I think the younger boys playing in Scotland will maybe have a bigger feeling coming up against guys they have only ever seen on TV highlights in the Premier League.
“But the more experienced boys will take it as just another game.
“I don’t think anyone would be looking at this one result as an amazing result. We’ll look back at the end of the campaign and see what game was a turning point. But if we get a great result and then don’t get to the finals or the play-offs then it’s another failure.”
Naismith has carved a reputation for himself as a man for the big occasion and he is hoping that will enter manager Gordon Strachan’s thinking when he’s putting his Wembley team together.
He said: “This game is slightly different because there could potentially be a few changes and I just need to hope I do enough so the manager says ‘aye, he’ll do for me’.
“I definitely hope the manager looks at it and thinks I have done it in the past and he can rely on me. I just have to make sure I am ready – and I have done it enough in my career to be ready.”
