It could be a case of from Brechin to Brazil for Murray Davidson next week, after the St Johnstone midfielder landed a dream Scotland call-up for the glamour friendly in London.
Thankfully for the Perth club, national coach Craig Levein has given Davidson permission to join up with the squad at their La Manga training camp the day after their Scottish Cup quarter-final replay.
Derek McInnes broke the good news to the 22-year-old before training on Thursday and Davidson admitted that when he was summoned by his manager, it wasn’t the news he was expecting.
He said, “The gaffer said he wanted a word with me and the boys were joking that I must be in trouble.
“I knew the Scotland squad was being announced at some stage but I’ve tried not to pay too much attention to all the speculation linking me with a call-up.
“It never crossed my mind the gaffer would be telling me I was in the squad to face Brazil.
“It was a bit of a shock, to be honest. But it is a massive boost for me. It would be huge thrill to play for Scotland, but to get my first cap against Brazil would be the stuff of schoolboy dreams. I think I’d have to pinch myself to see if I woke up.
“With the replay coming up against Brechin when Scotland were in La Manga, I thought I might not feature in the squad, anyway. I had read that some Irish lads might be missing games, so I had put it all to the back of my mind and concentrated on St Johnstone because we have big games against Hamilton and Brechin coming up.”
Levein braved the elements to assess Davidson in action in the Glebe Park mudbath, but the central midfielder joked, “I don’t think he would have learned much that day. Lionel Messi couldn’t play football on a surface like that. The boys here are saying the Emirates is going to be a wee bit different from Glebe Park: there should be grass for a start.
“It’s great to be listed in the squad and there are some top midfielders from the Premiership in there. But I want to play against Brechin on Tuesday because it is a huge game for the club with a cup semi-final place at stake. Being allowed to head for La Manga the day after means I get the best of both worlds.
“When you are a kid of seven or eight, you fall in love with Brazil and the way they play their samba football, so it would be incredible to make a debut against them. But I’m not getting carried away. I’m taking it step by step and will see where it leads.”
McInnes, who secured both Dave Mackay and Davidson for a bargain fee of less than £50,000, said, “It was great being able to tell Murray he was in the squad to face Brazil. We are all delighted for him. He couldn’t have been more pleased when I told him the news.
“He fully deserves it on the back of performances he has been putting in for us. There are a lot of good players available to Scotland in the middle of the park at the moment and they had a great result against Northern Ireland last time out.
“He was buzzing anyway but this should be a huge boost to Murray. Hopefully he will get game time but just being involved at this level will be great for him.”
Davidson’s selection had McInnes casting his mind back to when he first came across him as a raw teenager. Young Davidson certainly made his mark.
“He has made huge strides since we took him and Dave Mackay from Livingston 18 months ago.
“Murray has become a massive player for us. I remember playing against him for Saints and this big, skinny 16 or 17-year-old took a kick at me.
“I also kept an eye on him as a manager. He put himself about and imposed himself in a good Livingston side. He gave them a physical presence and I was pleased to bring him to Perth.”