Fans must wait for George Burley's first Scotland team

SCOTLAND boss George Burley will delay selecting his line-up for the friendly against Croatia until after his players train tomorrow.

Burley revealed that Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher is "desperate" to line up against the team who ended England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008.

Fletcher has recovered from illness and with Barry Ferguson absent he could feature in the centre of the Scotland midfield.

But Burley is still considering his plans for the Hampden clash, his first match since being appointed as Alex McLeish's successor.

"We'll train tomorrow and have a look at a few more things, then I'll tell them the team," Burley said.

"There are areas we're still working hard to get right.

"It's nice to get another session in, then we will finalise the team."

Burley has taken the spate of withdrawals in his stride, with four players from Rangers among the seven members of the squad who were declared unavailable yesterday.

The Ibrox absentees may be fit for Saturday's Old Firm clash with Celtic.

But Burley said: "That doesn't really matter. Everyone came here, there were seven unavailable through injury and I can't help that. We have 20 fit players so we've got a few options.

"Darren Fletcher came today and trained today, so he is available along with Gavin Rae.

"Darren missed Saturday's Manchester United] game with a virus but he trained today, not a problem, and he is desperate to play.

"He feels great and certainly comes into my thoughts for Wednesday.
"We are in good shape for a very big test."

Burley confidently named Stephen McManus to captain Scotland in tomorrow night's game and expects the Celtic skipper to lead his country by example.

"I had no hesitation offering him the position as captain and he was very pleased to accept," Burley said.

"He's a leader, he's a commanding figure at the back, and I'm very pleased that we'll have Stephen leading us out on Wednesday."