SCOTLAND will be without James McFadden for George Burley's first match as national team manager, after the Birmingham City forward underwent keyhole surgery on a knee injury on Saturday.
The Scotland squad gather at Loch Lomond this morning ahead of Wednesday's Hampden friendly against Croatia and Burley will assess the fitness of the players after a full weekend schedule.
He will be hoping to keep call-offs to a minimum for a tes
ting first assignment against the Euro 2008 finalists, and while the loss of McFadden is undoubtedly a blow, it may give him the perfect opportunity to hand a debut to Hibernian striker Steven Fletcher.
Fletcher was forced out of Hibs' 2-1 defeat against Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday with a back knock, but the forward – who turns 21 on Wednesday – insisted he would be fit to report for Scotland duty.
McFadden was left out of Birmingham's 2-1 defeat at Reading on Saturday, and his manager, Burley's Scotland predecessor Alex McLeish, explained: "James had a small tear in his knee. He had keyhole surgery this morning, and we'll miss him for two more matches.
"It happened after the Newcastle match. We were not concerned at first, because we thought it was just a knock. But over the past few days the physiotherapist thought it might be a tear – and so it proved."
Meanwhile, former Rangers and Croatia striker Dado Prso has predicted that Scotland will give his country a tougher test than England did in the build-up to Euro 2008.
Prso will be at Hampden on Wednesday to watch Slaven Bilic's men go through their paces as they prepare for this summer's finals.
The 32-times capped Croat, who now lives in the south of France, has also been keeping a close eye on Scotland's remarkable recent progress.
Prso said: "Obviously, I saw Scotland's win in France and I have to say I wasn't as surprised as many people over there were. I knew the quality of guys like Barry Ferguson, Kris Boyd and James McFadden.
"Scotland have improved so much over the past couple of years. I think in Alan Hutton, they now have one of the top full-backs in Europe.
"It'll be a great game at Hampden and a real test for my country. We also have a very strong team right now and, in Bilic, we have a coach who the players respect and respond to. Of course, we lost Eduardo to injury and that was a real blow, but we also have guys like Ivan Klasnic, Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar.
"We beat England 3-2 at Wembley and that score probably flattered them, but it was a massive result for Croatia. Scotland play a more compact defensive style and it could be tougher for us to win there than in England."
Scotland's only previous meetings with Croatia came during qualification for the 2002 World Cup. They resulted in a 0-0 draw at Hampden and a 1-1 tie in Zagreb, Kevin Gallacher netting for Craig Brown's side.
The full article contains 515 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
