MICHAELSTEWARTINTERNATIONAL EXTRA

ON THE NATIONAL MANAGER’S NEXT CHALLENGEAUSTRALIAN pundits havedemanded Celtic starletTom Rogic starts for themafter their side wasdestroyed in Brazil.The midfielder, below,got the last 15 minutesas the Socceroos werethumped 6-0 by the WorldCup hosts in afriendly.F o r m e rAston Villa andMan c h e s t e rUnited keeperMark Bosnichsaid: “Whydid Rogic onlycome on for the last 15minutes when it was doneand dusted?“Why not start him andfind out what he’s got?“This is a warning tous. There was absolutelynothing to take out of theperformance. Nothing.”

MIKAEL LUSTIG makes hissecond trip to Kazakhstanin three weeks tomorrow— with Celtic boss NeilLennon praying he doesn’taggravate a double injury.The Hoops defender,below, was carried off inhis last clubmatch againstDundee Unitedwith an ankleproblem.Lustigplayedfor Sweden inIreland on Fri-day night andnow makes an exhaustingtrip to Astana to faceKazakhstan — whereCelts lost to Karagandy.But he said: “AgainstIreland my ankle felt okaybut I had to come offbecause of a back injury.“The ankle feels finebut my back is stiff.”

RANGERS new boy ArnoldPeralta will play his firstmatch of the season whenhe turns out for Hondurasin tomorrow’s World Cupclash with Panama.He missed the 2-1 winin Mexico, but this time isexpected to get the nod atright-back.P e r a l t a ,right, hasn’tbeen able toplay for Gersthis term dueto registrationrestrictions onnew signings.But he said: “We needto pressure Panama rightfrom the start and showthem we are desperate forthe three points.“A win would put us onestep of the way to theWorld Cup. Our homegames are vital.”

SHAUN THE RISE . . . Maloneyhas been a massive positive forboss Strachan in recent games

DEAN SHIELS has beencalled up for NorthernIreland’s World Cupqualifier against minnowsLuxembourg tomorrow.The Rangers ace, below,has been drafted in byboss Michael O’Neill afterlosing a number of stars.Northern Ireland crashed4-2 to classyPortugal onFriday nightand had ChrisBrunt and ex-Ibrox hitmanKyle Laffertysent off.The pair are suspendedfor the Luxembourg game,while O’Neill is sweating onthe fitness of Jamie Wardand Shane Ferguson.Both were substituted inthe second half againstPortugal at Windsor Park.Aberdeen frontman NiallMcGinn is also nursing aninjury and is a doubt.

GORDONSTRACHAN standsone per cent away fromconstructing a team that cantake us to Euro 2016.Yet as he settles into thebuild-up to tomorrow’sclash with Macedonia,Strach will know findingthat vital margin will bethe hardest task he facesas Scotland boss.While doing my UEFA Blicence coaching course thisweek I had the pleasure oflistening to sports psychologistDonald MacNaughton, below,and one point he made reallyresonated with me.He said as you move up theladder in elite sport themargins between success andfailure, progress and standingstill become smaller.Strachan is finding out thatwhile the margins may be

smaller they aremore difficultto negotiate.At the very

highest levelyou’re competingagainst otherswho have the same

skill set, be it technical,tactical, physical or nowa-days psychological.It is about trying to find

the way to squeeze out theextra one per cent that couldmake all the difference.Some of you may wonderwhat has this got to do withStrach and the national team?In my eyes it has got every-thing to do with them.

QualityAfter the 2-0 defeat at thehands of the brilliant Belgiansthis is exactly the situationthe boss finds himself in.How does he maximise everytool available to him in hisquest to get the country back

to a major tournament?International footballis the elite level of thesport, and for too longnow we have not beeneven coming close tocompeting at this level.Last Friday saw usup against arguably thebest that Europe has tooffer and we were farfrom outplayed.The manager hit thenail on the head whensaying he had five orsix players who put instellar performances.In Russell Martin andGrant Hanley he hastwo unglamorous guyswho he has shown

great faith in.The duo played up againstChristian Benteke who hasbeen terrorising defences inthe Premier League for over ayear now, and more than heldtheir own.Hanley’s only mistakeagainst the Belgians wasbrutally exploited byEverton’s Kevin Mirallasto kill Scotland off.I felt that in midfieldCharlie Mulgrew’s shiftcould not have doneanything other thanbring a smile to thecoaching staff’s faces.He broke up play andgot on the ball, he startedattacks time after time,throughout the game heshowed great composure intight situations.His Celtic team-mate ScottBrown gave the side somemuch needed drive from the

middle of the park. The otherplayer Strachan must surelyhave been thinking of whenwaxing lyrical about perfor-mances, is Shaun Maloney.He continues to go fromstrength to strength. Nowbeing deployed in his favour-ite position just in behind thestriker, Maloney can drop intomidfield giving defensive sup-port when needed.He can then step forwardproviding penetration and theability to unlock oppositiondefences.There were positives to takefrom the game — but whenyou state that it leaves youwondering if it was so goodhow come we still lost 2-0?We got into some greatpositions in the final third,but could not find that qualitycross or pass to get the open-ing we craved.The team has a real depthof talent in the wide areas,but we don’t have anyonewith blistering pace.James Forrest is the quickest,but he could not get anychange out of the impressiveJan Vertonghen.On the other side RobertSnodgrass is never going todrop his shoulder and showa clean pair of heels to thefull-back, but he does have afantastic football brain.The lack of impact fromForrest and Snodgrass meantwe did not get the penetrationin the wide areas.That would have enabledLeigh Griffiths to come intohis own, getting in behind theBelgian defence.When Strachan, below, firsttook over the reins he had toclose the alarming gulf betweenus and the other countries wewere playing against.His first task was to get usback to the stage where wecould at least hold our headsup high, proud in the fact weare not a million miles awayfrom them.He has successfully donethis, but now the real chall-enge begins.Tomorrow night’s game inSkopje offers us another greatopportunity to show how thatgap has been closed, and howwe can look at these gamesconfidently enough to thinkwe truly can win.We’ve made huge progressand come a long way in ashort space of time from thedark days of previous years.Now it’s that extra one percent that needs to be found tocontinue the momentum.

By MARTIN BLACKBURNCRAIG BELLAMY says there are no plansto build a statue of Gareth Bale in Cardiff— just yet.But the veteran Wales striker hopes hiscountry will make the most of being hometo the world’s most expensive footballer.Real Madrid’s new £86million Galactico ishoping to play some part for the Dragons whenthey tackle Serbia in a World Cup qualifiertomorrow night.Wales got a taste of what lies in store forthem in future as they had to beef up securityaround their hotel in Macedonia this week.And there were sighs of relief all roundwhen two fans who ran on to the pitch inSkopje at half-time in Friday night’s matchwanted to hug Bale rather than attack him.Yet ex-Celt Bellamy — once the biggest starin Welsh football himself — believes it is some-thing the country must embrace and try tomake the most of.The former Liverpool ace said: “It’s new forus. We have had Ryan Giggs, don’t get mewrong, but this is a little bit different.“It’s a fantastic time for us to market ourcountry and tell everyone about the good

things we have.“It’s not every day thatyou can boast the world’smost expensive player asone of yours. As a squadwe’ll try to look after him.“He’s a great lad. I’m notsaying they will erect astatue of him in Cardiffstraightaway but we arelearning as we go.“It’s brilliant because ofthe recognition our nationwill get.”Wales bowed out ofcontention for the WorldCup at the weekend but

Bellamy, 34, believes Bale, 24, will play in amajor championships.The Cardiff firebrand, who has 75 caps, alsohinted he may hang up his boots at the end ofthe season.When asked if he had one last qualifyingcampaign in him, Bellamy said: “I don’t thinkthat’s going to be possible. I don’t.“I really want this group to succeed. Butdon’t forget, it’s a two-year period to qualify.“If I start the next campaign, I would berobbing someone else of two matches, fourmatches . . . vital experience. That’s the way I’mlooking at it.“My mood does change, I could change whatI’m thinking. But the way I’m feeling now, itcould be my last season in football. I have somuch to look forward to after football.”Bellamy’s domestic situation is also an issuefollowing a recent marriage break-up, and hewants to spend as much time as possible withhis three children.He added: “I’m a single parent now andI’m having such a battle to see my kidson a daily basis.“Then, being away for 10 days on Walesduty, it’s so hard.”

MARC LONGSFOR CHANGEMARC WILSON hasurged the Republic ofIreland to abandon thelong-ball approach ina desperate bid torevive their World Cupqualifying campaign.Giovanni Trapattoni’sside launched an aerialblitz against Swedenon Friday but lost 2-1.And Stoke full-backWilson said: “We needto play through themiddle a bit more and

pass the ball to creategood chances.”When suggested toWilson that the longball did not help, hesaid: “No, it doesn’t.“Plus, there are newfaces coming in everyday and we haven’thad time as a group.“But it’s still noexcuse. The other nightwasn’t good enough.”

CrockedLustig’s aKaz been

By JOHN SHIELDS

Aussies’start pleafor Rogic

Peralta: Iwill knockmy Pan in

SWEDE ’N SOUR . . . Ibrahimovic beats Wilson

Lux in asDean getsa cap call

AT HEART OFHIS NATION . . .

Gareth Bale is nowWales’ main man

DONE . . . Bellamy

4 Monday, September 9, 2013