John Carver expressed gratitude for Germany’s warm welcome to Scotland but stressed that the focus is now on upsetting the host nation in Friday’s Euro 2024 opener in Munich.
The Scots were invited to a reception by Mayor Elisabeth Koch when they arrived at their training camp in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Sunday and midfielder John McGinn stole the show with some Bavarian dancing.
Steve Clarke’s men took part in an open training session in the Stadion am Groben on Monday, where hundreds of locals turned up in the rain to see them being put through their paces, but Carver revealed it will now all be about working towards upsetting Germany.
“It wasn’t a surprise that John was going to get up there,” said Clarke’s right-hand man, who revealed skipper Andy Robertson came off early during Scotland’s first training session simply as a precaution.
“We got here yesterday and we got a wonderful welcome from the mayor and now we want to make an impact.
“We have seen a little bit of the culture last night which was excellent and John McGinn joined in the culture which was great.
“We had an open day today which was fantastic, in awful conditions for all the families and children to come. It was a great turnout and I hope they were impressed. We just want to thank them.
“It is very important that we embrace the community and we have certainly done that. It is a fantastic environment.
“Today was about the community and allowing people to see the players, for me the real work starts tomorrow where we can look at things, how we are going to play, set-plays, what have you. So the real work starts tomorrow.
“We have had a good preparation. We have had a couple of friendlies (Gibraltar and Finland) which were excellent in my opinion because we got out of it what we need to get out of it.
“Friday is when the real business starts and we have to make sure we are ready for that and I am sure we will be.
“Let’s not forget who we are playing against. We are playing against the host nation, who are a very good team and you can never underestimate them. So we have to get our preparation right and hopefully we can get something out of the game.”
There was some concern when Liverpool left-back Robertson had to go off during the session and Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland did not take part in the full workout.
Kenny McLean was not involved while fellow midfielder Stuart Armstrong returned to training after recovering from a muscle injury but did mostly solo work.
Friday is when the real business starts and we have to make sure we are ready for that and I am sure we will be— John Carver
Clarke is already without the services of Lyndon Dykes, Ben Doak, Lewis Ferguson, Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson and Jacob Brown.
Carver said: “He (Robertson) is fine. I just spoke to him, it was a precaution really, the ball just caught his ankle. We will be extra cautious but he is fine.
“It is never nice (to see him walking off) especially with the luck we have had lately. I had a chat with him as soon as training was finished and he is fine.
“Lawrence had a little bit of a niggle from the other night. He obviously had a lot of game time in the two games we played. So it is to protect him as well.
“Kenny had a little issue before the game the other night but again he will probably train tomorrow. Like I say, a little bit extra cautious. Stuart will be back with the group full-time tomorrow.
“Everybody is at different stages so we have to be careful because we are now in the tournament and we want to make sure we have everybody fit and firing for the first game.”
