Levein Set For First Match As Scotland Face the Czech Republic
Craig Levein will take his first steps into International Management tonight when Scotland meet the Czech Republic at Hampden Park, Levein took over from George Burley who failed to lead the Scots to the World Cup and the former Dundee United Manager will be hoping to get off to a good start. In a coincidence the Scots are playing a friendly against the Czech Republic who they will also meet during qualification for Euro 2012, Levein will be looking for his players to lay down a marker against a team that could bee their big rivals for qualification. Scotland also drew Spain in the Euro 2012 draw leaving themselves and the Czechs as the two most likely to fight it out for that all-important second spot and a play-off place.
All of the talk in the build up to the match has been on the return of Kris Boyd to the squad who made himself unavailable for selection under Burley after a very public falling out with the former boss, Levein has managed to change his mind and they will certainly need his goals over the next couple of years if they are to achieve their dream. Scotland have not reached a major championships since France 1998 and Levein knows that he will need to end that drought if he is to be deemed a success in the job. Top class Managers such as Walter Smith and Alex McLeish have tried and failed in recent years to take Scotland to a major tournament and that is the task facing Craig Levein over the next couple of years.
The key man for the Scots both tonight and during qualification will be Darren Fletcher of Man United who has been in great form this season, he looks to be the man who can make a difference and if Kris Boyd can start scoring then things will be looking up for Craig Levein. They will face a tough Czech side at Hampden who although they missed out on the 2010 World Cup still have a strong squad that are capable of turning over an out-of-sorts Scotland side. Levein knows that he needs to get the public interested in the National team once again and the best way to do that is with a win and a good performance starting tonight.
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