Steve Clarke explains 'good story' Scotland World Cup call-up, Rangers selections and plan for 27th man

The Southampton striker has netted 10 goals in his last 21 appearances to help fire the Saints to the Championship play-off final. The 29-year-old former Ross County and Sunderland forward earned his only two caps to date in 2022 before injury hampered his progress.

He joins Che Adams, Lyndon Dykes, Lawrence Shankland and George Hirst as Scotland’s striking options for the finals. Speaking at his squad announcement at Hampden, Clarke said: “I think it’s a good story.

“Ross obviously was in my squad a few years ago showing that he could come up to this level, he was good in the squad. Then he’s had a terrible run of injury and obviously this season, certainly the latter half of the season from January onwards, he’s hit a rich vein of form where he’s shown that he can score big goals in big games.

“Probably reference the Arsenal game in the FA Cup where he showed that he can have an impact on games of that level. The World Cup will be a very high level as well.

“He’s shown that he can score from the bench and he’s a striker in form, so I decided to add him to the group. You know I put a lot importance on characters and people within the group.

“When you go away, you’re going to be away hopefully for four or five weeks, you need good relationships between all the players. It’s very important that we have that.”

Curtis brings ‘something a bit different’

Rangers winger Findlay Curtis has kept his place after making his debut in March following some good form on loan with Kilmarnock. Clarke praised the 19-year-old for leaving Ibrox, albeit temporarily, in pursuit of game time.

The former Kilmarnock boss said: “Young players need to play football. If they want to improve, they have to play. And sometimes that can involve making big decisions.

“And I think for Findlay to make a decision to leave Rangers in January and go and play at Kilmarnock shows you that if you make the right choices at the right time and then you have the ability to back up that decision, then things can work in your favour.

“I was impressed when I brought him into the camp in March, obviously brought him in to have a look at him, get a feel for the character, the person as much as the player and he fitted in very well. He’s got something a little bit different to what we’ve got.

“He’s also shown that he can score a goal or two in a Kilmarnock team that was struggling down the bottom, so since Findlay went there in January, along with a couple of other signings, the team has finished well.

“Findlay finished the season in a great place and it’s nice to have a young one in the squad.”

Goalkeeper selections explained

Clarke also insisted that Craig Gordon deserves his place in the squad as he admitted a “difficult” task in choosing his three goalkeepers. The Scots’ boss selected the 43-year-old Hearts player, Angus Gunn of Nottingham Forest and Rangers’ back-up keeper Liam Kelly, with the three having played just seven club games between them all season. Falkirk’s Scott Bain misses out having played against the Ivory Coast in March.

Gordon’s last of three appearances for the Jambos this season was in a 2-2 draw against Celtic in January and he is on way his back from a shoulder injury.

Clarke said: “Always difficult when you’ve got goalkeepers that are not playing regular.

“I think I’ve touched on this before, as long as goalkeepers are working to their maximum in training you feel that they can come in and play for a number of games.

“Obviously Craig’s slightly different in that he picked up an injury. We’ve had him monitored. We got good reports back from Hearts. I sent Chris Woods (Scotland goalkeeping coach) to watch him in training. He’s training very well.

“Craig assures us he’s fully fit. And he deserves to go because he played a part of the qualifying campaign. He missed the last tournament (Euro 2024). He showed tremendous resilience to be in the squad, and he deserves to be there.

“Angus played in a game last week, an under-23 game down in England, just to get some match practice, so he’s did a little bit of that. And Liam’s in there because he’s a very good third goalkeeper.

“He’s good around the squad, his character’s good, the players respect him, and he works ever so hard in camp. So that’s how I managed to come down on the three goalkeepers.

“Obviously we can change a goalkeeper anytime across the tournament. So if Craig was to struggle a little bit with injury, which he hopefully won’t and we’re quite certain that he won’t do that, we can always have the option to change him.

“I will put a young goalkeeper into the squad, as a training goalkeeper, a number 27, which should alleviate a little bit of pressure on the goalkeepers in terms of training loads.

“So that’s something I’ve got in mind. I can’t give you a name just now, because we haven’t told the player himself.”

Clarke revealed he will also be placing a number of players on a World Cup stand-by list.

“Players will be informed that they are on that stand-by list,” he added. “We are not asking them not to relax and enjoy their summer, but to make sure they stay in reasonable shape just in case. You can replace right up until 24 hours before the first game for a serious injury.”

Ben Gannon-Doak has also been included in Steve Clarke’s 26-man squad after making three appearances off the bench for Bournemouth since suffering a serious hamstring injury in Scotland’s win over Denmark in November.

Lennon Miller snub ‘the most difficult conversation’

There was heartbreak for 19-year-old Udinese midfielder Lennon Miller as Clarke opted for five forwards. John McGinn, Kenny McLean, Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour, Lewis Ferguson and Ryan Christie form a strong midfield section.

Clarke said: “There’s five people that were in my squad in March that are not in this squad, so five very difficult conversations. And I think because Lennon is so young, probably the most difficult.

“He’d been in a few squads and maybe felt as though he was going to be a regular in the squads. But I just felt that with the balance of the midfield that I’ve got, it was better to take an extra forward than an extra midfield player.

“That was that was my thinking on that one. I think they (conversations) get more difficult because I’ve been there myself. I understand how disappointing it is to be told that you’ve just missed out on final selection.

“All those players have been very close. There’s a number of players across the campaign who have had fantastic seasons, who will also be disappointed that they’re not in the squad.

“And I fully respect their disappointment, but they also have to understand that I’m the head coach.

“I can only pick 26. I work the way I work. That is not going to change. It’s never going to change in the future. Disappointed for them because I know how they’ll be feeling.”

Clarke also expressed sympathy for striker Tommy Conway who had been ruled out after picking up an injury in Middlesbrough’s 2-1 Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final defeat by Southampton last week.

Clarke said: “Yeah, I spoke to Tommy, obviously devastated with injury.

“I thought he did well for us in March. He had a great season with his club, and it’s very disappointing for Tommy and he misses out, but he’s also not the first player across the three campaigns that we’ve qualified for who have missed out to really late injuries.

“It’s unfortunate, and we talked about it at length. It’s part and parcel of football. The most important thing for Tommy now is to get his head round it and understand that he has to be ready for Euro 2028.”

Scotland squad for 2026 World Cup:

Craig Gordon, Angus Gunn, Liam Kelly; Grant Hanley, Jack Hendry, Aaron Hickey, Dom Hyam, Scott McKenna, Nathan Patterson, Anthony Ralston, Andy Robertson, John Souttar, Kieran Tierney; Ryan Christie, Findlay Curtis, Lewis Ferguson, Ben Gannon-Doak, Billy Gilmour, John McGinn, Kenny McLean, Scott McTominay; Che Adams, Lyndon Dykes, George Hirst, Lawrence Shankland, Ross Stewart.