GEORGE BURLEY can today take comfort from the fact he'll have a string of players, absentees for one reason or another as he took charge of Scotland for the first time, available when the serious stuff starts in September.
But Burley already knows that, when he boards the plane for Macedonia at the beginning of our 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, it will be those old allies of commitment and passion upon which he will rely most.
Those two words were used repe
atedly by the former Hearts boss in the wake of a creditable draw against Croatia, a nation bound for this summer's European Championship and one which, on the evidence of these 90 minutes at Hampden, are capable of acquitting themselves well.
As ever on these occasions, his Croatian counterpart Slaven Bilic paid his hosts the compliment of predicting their bid to reach South Africa in two years' time could well end in triumph, recalling how under Walter Smith and then Alex McLeish the Scots had so nearly joined his country in this summer's extravaganza in Austria and Switzerland.
Being with the big boys for the first time since France 98 was, of course, what last night was all about, allowing Burley to get a first-hand view of the squad he has inherited and the opportunity to look at one or two others such as Hibs' Steven Fletcher who, he feels, have the credentials to strut their stuff at this level.
Burley, of course, could have opted for inferior opposition rather than the Croats as he made his Hampden bow, but that would have served no purpose, the visitors giving his side a close examination and emphasising, no doubt, just how important the Scots' willingness to roll up their sleeves and fight to narrow the gap between themselves and the world's more talented nations will be.
That strength of character was tested in no small way as Nico Kranjcar gave Croatia the lead after just ten minutes, the Portsmouth striker latching onto Luka Modric's pass as the Scottish defence went to sleep before unleashing a swerving, dipping shot which left Craig Gordon clawing fresh air.
The rapier-like runs of Kranjcar and Ivika Olic threatened to destroy the central defensive partnership of Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus, one which has looked uncomfortable at times even in a domestic environment as the Croats, with their speed of thought and movement, took a firm grip on proceedings.
Burley said: "They started brightly, you could see they have a settled side and that was their strongest team. We tried to take the game to Croatia but it certainly did not work the first ten to 15 minutes against a team who have excellent movement, move you around and good interchanging passing.
"I think our commitment shone out and I think that's the quality of the side in the last couple of years under Walter and Alex and that is something we have to build on."
Scotland hung on as Croatia threatened to take the game out of reach in those opening minutes, Fletcher, playing wide of a five in midfield rather than through the middle where many had assumed he would have played given his 14 goals so far this season for Hibs, threaded a speculative ball in the direction of Kenny Miller. Robert Kovac should have cut it out but didn't do so, the former Easter Road frontman, again putting in a tireless performance as a lone striker, getting his rewards as he gambled on the Borussia Dortmund defender missing it to squeeze a shot in from a narrow angle, helped by a deflection off Josip Simunic.
Burley said: "We hung in there, showed a lot of character and overall I was very pleased with the commitment. We scored one goal and had three or four other opportunities against a quality side.
"It was a very competitive game. For me Croatia are one of the top teams in Europe and they showed that in their qualifying group against England."
The competitiveness of the match was illustrated by the need for Norwegian referee Terje Hauge to flash the yellow card six times, an unusual occurrence in a friendly match, as a few injudicious tackles flew in with Scott Brown seemingly intent on conducting his own personal war with Mladen Petric.
The former Hibs midfielder may claim he doesn't feel any of his 13 bookings this season have been justified, but he could have little complaint on this occasion, Hauge resisting the temptation to haul the card out earlier as Brown let his combative edge take over.
An early second-half flurry, Brown firing a low shot wide and Miller's header being taken off the line by Danijel Pranjic before Caldwell completed an acrobatic clearance to deny Kranjcar a second goal, soon petered out amid a welter of substitutions which, inevitably, robbed the match of much of its fluency.
Even so, Gordon and his counterpart Stipe Pletikosa each produced a save of note, from substitutes Igor Budan and Kris Boyd respectively, leaving both managers relatively happy in what they had got from the game, Croatian boss Bilic insisting he'd jumped at the chance of playing Scotland because of the type of game he expected.
Burley, too, was satisfied although he admitted that even with the return of the likes of Barry Ferguson, David Weir and James McFadden, the Scots will remain someway short of the quality on show from Croatia who, you felt, could have easily slipped up through the gears at will.
The Scotland boss said: "We have one or two players who can still come in but they are a committed squad of players. Going down so early to a team that played some great possession football. It was hard work but we stuck to it and we deservedly got a draw.
"It is important to keep the momentum going. We lost out in the last qualifying campaign but there were some very good performances. We are in the build-up for the World Cup, it was a tough game.
"We have another one coming up at the end of May against the Czech Republic and that will give me another opportunity to work with the side. I learned a lot against Croatia about individuals and our team and that's what it is about, learning that little bit more.
"We have a committed squad, I think that showed, a team that has a lot of passion. That's what we have to do, to keep working hard. Croatia have some individual top-class players and we maybe do not have that quality in certain areas. But we have that quality of commitment. We have to keep doing that, working hard as a team."
The full article contains 1128 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
