The dates for the ATAC 7-a-side tournament have been announced and it will take place on Saturday 11th June at the Excelsior Stadium, home of Airdrie United. Kick off will be 1pm and running until 5pm with a presentation, speakers and entertainment at the stadium which all teams will be attending afterwards.
As with all FC Diegos matches Iain will be organising and updates will appear here.
Scotland will take on Brazil on Sunday 27th March at Arsenals Emirates Stadium. The glamour friendly will technically be a home game for the Brazilians and all SSC members getting an official SFA ticket for the match will gain an away point.
Tickets are priced £30 for the first 2,500 and £35 for all remaining sales. Everyone who wants an official ticket will surely get one, and the valuable away point, although there will be tickets on general sale from Arsenal.
With so many call off’s for the International Friendlies over the last few years, it will be interesting to see how much priority the players give to resting the niggly injuries and meeting club commitments when the Samba Stars roll into London Town…
SSC Members sale (22nd February – 4th March)
Arsenal FC General Sale (from February 28th)
… it’s Northern Ireland!
As the song goes, it’s wasn’t Brazil but at times it was like watching the Samba Stars as Scotland dismantled an admittedly understrength Norn Iron side in their first Celtic Cup match 3-0. Goals from Kenny Miller, a sublime chip from James McArthur making his debut and Kris Commons ensured Scotland were on easy street against a Northern Ireland side which offered very little in response.
Following on from the positive Faroes result at Pittodrie last year, also against what should be inferior opposition, it is another encouraging sign that Levein is starting to build a squad with a nucleus of talented young players eager to make their mark. At times during the game the confidence flowing was in evidence as Scottish players passed and moved with ease leaving their opponents with little opportunity to take the ball back from the boys in dark blue. In addition to the positivity of McArthurs’ late inclusion, following Scott Brown’s hamstring injury in the warm up, there were cameos for Robert Snodgrass, Mark Wilson, Craig Conway and Barry Bannan who all looked comfortable against the level of opposition.
With Levein stating pre match that he spends most of his game watching time in the Premiership these days, with no less than 16 regular squad members plying their trade in England’s top flight, it offers a glimmer of hope that we are moving away from the dark days of Burley’s reign and also the now infamous 4-6-0 formation away against the Czechs last September. With two further Celtic Cup games in May against Wales and the Republic of Ireland to come before the next set of qualifiers in September, as well as the rumoured glamour friendly against Brazil at the Emirates Stadium in London, there will hopefully be further opportunities for morale boosting performances and blooding of exciting young talent before the Euro 2012 campaign commences again.
