The Hearts star missed out on the March international fixtures with Scotland.
Andy Robertson says Scotland’s quality will be made clear by the likes of Hearts talisman Lawrence Shankland returning to contention in time for World Cup action.
Steve Clarke’s side lost 1-0 against Japan and Ivory Coast during the March international break in two tough tests ahead of a comeback on football’s biggest stage for the first time since 1998. A lack of cutting edge up front was apparent as the likes of Lyndon Dykes, George Hirst, Che Adams and Tommy Conway made their case for a spot on the plane to America.
Shankland returned from a hamstring problem in Hearts’ 1-0 win over Dundee in the Premiership prior to the break and was not selected by Clarke after his fitness battle, with others like ex-Jambo Aaron Hickey and Ben Gannon-Doak also missing this month’s matches. Captain Robertson named the Hearts striker as one man who could make a difference when World Cup action begins against Haiti in June.
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What difference will Lawrence Shankland make to Scotland team?
Robertson said to BBC Scotland: “This has been with players missing. We have not had Aaron Hickey here, Ben Gannon-Doak, Lawrence Shankland, people that have been in and around the squad for a long-time. It shows how many options we have got. We made nine changes.
“Every one of those lads can step up to the plate and even the lads that didn’t play over the two games are fantastic players. It shows you the amount of quality we have got and the amount of quality we have now got in Scotland that the manager is going to have a headache in the summer. It's up to us now to go back to our clubs, play as well as we can, and be really excited for the summer. I hope everyone is the same.”
The Liverpool left-back added: "We changed the system and made nine changes. The manager is trying both systems. We caused them problems - last 20 minutes we were the team pushing forwards. It's one of those games. We want to win these games, but we're also trying stuff. We get caught on the counter for the goal, which can't really happen.”
Who do Scotland play next?
Next up for Scotland is a Hampden Park send-off against Curacao before jetting out to the USA and striker Hirst insists he’s carving out positions to become the goal-getter the nation is crying out for. He said: "It was a tough game.
“We started on the front foot and were causing them issues, but we committed too many bodies forward and we got caught. We were a little bit sloppy at times, but second half we came out with a great mentality and got after them.
"All I can do is go out whenever I get an opportunity and play as well as I can. If I can keep doing that and doing it for Ipswich, it will stand me in good stead. I'm getting in the positions and on another day I would have come off with a couple of goals. Hopefully they start going in."
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