Robbo stands just 12 appearances away from matching Scotland's record cap holder - and Dalglish reckons he would be throoughly deserving of finally taking the honour.
06:00, 08 Mar 2026
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It's 40 years since Kenny Dalglish won the last of his 102 Scotland caps.
And to this day nobody else has ever made it to the Century mark of appearances in navy blue. It’s a record that still makes the Liverpool legend - widely regarded as Scotland’s greatest of all time - bristle with pride.
But Dalglish knows a modern day Anfield icon is coming after his honour. And if the man dubbed King Kenny has to lose his Scottish crown to anyone then he can think of nobody better placed than reigning captain Andy Robertson.
He might joke that it’s time for the fellow Liverpool great to “do the honourable thing” and call it a day on the international stage after hitting the 90-cap mark.
But Dalglish is deadly serious when he says Robertson deserves everything coming to him after captaining the nation to back-to-back European Championship finals and now a first World Cup in 28 years.
Ironically if Scotland somehow got to this summer’s World Cup Final and the captain played in every game between now and then he would equal Dalglish’s 102 appearances in the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now Dalglish reckons Robbo is worthy of every honour coming his way. And he’d love to see the 31-year-old - who netted in Friday's FA Cup win over Wolves - handed a new deal on Merseyside too. He said: “I think he should retire for Scotland - do the honourable thing!
“No, listen, it’s a great honour to have 102 caps for your country. Especially in the era that we played in because there wasn't that many games. Now there's a lot more games but he's been good enough and deservedly he's been chosen to represent his country.
“So if somebody does it more than you, then fine. For me, it's not as if it doesn't still make me proud. You're proud to play your first game for your country, equally as proud as when you played the last one. So if somebody beats it, they beat it.
“How good a leader has he been? Well, the results stand up. It’s a contribution from everybody. Stevie, his staff, and for Robbo and the players, what they've done. They've done really well. Since Stevie's gone in, he's taken it forward.
“So everybody's gave their best. And I think it's reflected in the performances. The increase in the performances and the results has been brilliant.
“By the way, Robbo’s future's yet to be decided. Obviously there's no conclusive information coming from Liverpool, whether he's signing or not. But if he stays there, I think it's great. I think he deserves it. He's done well for Liverpool. I hope he stays there.”
Steve Clarke will name his squad for this month’s friendly double-header against Japan and Ivory Coast next week.
And with regular recruits such as John McGinn, Aaron Hickey, Lawrence Shankland and Scott McTominay all struggling with injury it could be a chance for fringe men to stake their claim to be on the plane to the US.
Ben Gannon-Doak has been out of action since picking up a hamstring injury in the tumultuous win over Denmark that sealed Scotland’s place at the summer showpiece.
And Dalglish said: “Well, they've got the two games this month. Then they've got two more friendlies before the World Cup. If he sees anybody.. and there's always somebody. By the way, the ones that have done well to get us there, you need to give them a wee bit of gratitude as well.
“The wee man (Gannon-Doak), he looks good. He went to Middlesbrough on loan from Liverpool and seemed to come back a wee bit more educated, a wee bit more mature upstairs. And then he played here against Croatia, against Gvardiol. By the way, he gave him a bit of time, didn't he?
“So, listen. If he's fit, he'll be an asset. If he's not, forget it. Hopefully he's fit. But they've done well. McTominay in the middle of the pitch. Since he's gone to Napoli, he's done really well.
“They've got a good group of players there. McGinn's injured at the moment. He's going to be looking to come back. He’s quite influential on our team as well. If we play like they did against Denmark... jeez.
“I remember watching it on the telly. They scored after five minutes and I was going, yes! And then thinking, wait a minute there's 85 minutes to go. But they played really well. So, we'll keep our fingers crossed.”
Dalglish reckons Scotland have a great chance of making history and qualifying for the knockout stages of the World Cup.
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They face Haiti, Morocco and Brazil in Group C having never before gone beyond this stage in a major tournament. And with an expanded competition seeing 32 of the sides making it through to the second round instead of 16, Dalglish fancies our chances.
The country’s record cap holder played at three World Cups in 1974, 1978 and 1982. And he said: “The boys that are there now have got a better chance of qualifying through the section because there's more options.
“It's a wee bit more forgiving now than what it was before. But Morocco did well in the African Nations. They got to the final. I think you need to keep your eye on them. Everybody knows about Brazil.
“Every game is important, but the one that might be decisive could be the second game with Morocco. Brazil might not matter. But we've certainly got some better opportunities now than we've had before. And I think they've got good strength and depth in the squad.”
It still rankles with Dalglish that he never made it past the group stage in any of his three World Cups, in which he faced Brazil twice. In ’74 Willie Ormand’s Scots were unbeaten in their three group games but controversially missed lout on goal difference to Yugoslavia.
Dalglish said: “We were better than the results we got when we were out there. And that's the thing that's not pleasant because we were a good group of players but never got the results. In 1974 we were unbeaten against Brazil, Yugoslavia, Zaire.
“Zaire v Yugoslavia was the last game. It was going to goal difference. Coincidentally, the Zaire coach was a Yugoslavian and they got beat 9-0. We beat Zaire 2-0 in the first game. We then drew with Brazil. Wee Billy Bremner hit the post. And that was us. Drew two games and won one. Papped out.
“And even when we went to Argentina in 1978 we beat Holland 3-2. Holland got to the final, didn't they? If that had been the final we'd have won the World Cup! Personally, I’d have been a lot more comfortable with our career if we could have produced a wee bit more.”
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