St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson is giving local star David Wotherspoon the best possible chance of making the World Cup.
The Perth midfielder is nearing a return to first team football from a gutting knee injury picked up in the League Cup semi-final last November.
Wotherspoon, who qualifies to play for Canada through his mother and already has a number of caps, is upping training and picking up bounce game minutes.
With the World Cup kicking-off in little over two months’ time, the 32-year-old is keen to quickly get back up to full speed.
Saints boss Davidson knows it’s important not to rush his creative spark but hopes everything will fall into place for the global showpiece.
“It’s a tough one for David and the manager,” said Davidson. "There’s a long way to go yet. The most important thing is he comes back properly fit and doesn’t pick up other injuries because he wasn’t quite ready.
“That will give him the best chance of making the Canada squad for the World Cup.
“With David, he’s desperate to get back playing. This next international break has probably come at the wrong time for him.
“But the good side of it for him is we’ll arrange games that week and the week after to bring him on.
“By the time it comes to the Dundee United game he’ll hopefully have played a couple of 90 minutes.”
Left-sided full-back Adam Montgomery, meanwhile, has been called up to Scotland’s U21 squad.
And Davidson is hopeful a few other of his McDiarmid Park pals will be away on international duty.
“It’s fantastic for Adam,” said Davidson. "We’ve never had any doubt about Adam’s ability going forward.
“He’s always working hard on the defensive side of things to get better. When he played at Celtic he didn’t have to defend too much.
“You can see him improving. In the second half against St Mirren I thought he was a lot better defensively.
“He’s got power and pace without the ball – which is a rare thing these days.
“And, as he showed for our second goal, he can show real composure in the opposition box.”
Davidson continued: “Hopefully we’ll have a few boys who will be away with their countries next week.
“James Brown will be away with Malta, Daniel Phillips will hopefully be away with Trinidad and there might be a couple of others.”
Phillips, thrown in at the deep end after arriving in Perth, is expected to kick on nicely in the coming weeks.
Davidson said: “People expected him to be up to speed straight away. It doesn’t work that way.
“He had to go in because of circumstances but he wasn’t quite ready.
“He made a positive impact when he came on against St Mirren and if he continues to do that he’ll get an opportunity to start games again.
“I’m looking for him to be in a much better place after the international break.
“It’s difficult with boys who don’t get a full pre-season. Getting game-time with Trinidad will definitely help.”
