Gordon Strachan believes Scotland can maintain charge and qualify for World Cup
Tuesday 5 September 2017 00:24, UK
Gordon Strachan retains the belief in his Scotland squad to make it to next summer's World Cup finals.
Scotland enhanced their chances of qualification for the 2018 World Cup with a 2-0 win over Malta, which moved them to within one point of second-placed Slovakia in Group F.
Strachan's men have two matches remaining and go into them knowing that six points will be enough to guarantee the runners-up spot and almost certainly a play-off place. Those games are a monumental home clash with Slovakia (October 5) and a trip to Slovenia (October 8).
He said: "As long as everybody keeps fit and healthy [we can qualify]. The good players play well and we meet up again and hopefully we'll have a choice of guys on top form - 23 guys on top form.
"I think...the last group we were involved in...Germany, Northern Ireland, Poland...that was a fantastic and hard group. All them went on to do well in the finals and we knew how hard it was going to be. But again we've made it kind of a roller-coaster ride."
Goals from Christophe Berra (10) and Leigh Griffiths (48) saw off the minnows.
Scotland enjoyed 70 per cent possession and fired 24 shots on goal in a dominant performance.
Strachan added: "We're very happy. As you know it was a must-win game.
"The performance was terrific - maybe I should have freshened it up a little bit, that's something to learn from.
"We wanted to make changes quite early in the second half but, because of the injuries, that gave us a problem.
"I was hoping to get a few forward players on - because of the injuries, it was a bit of a problem."
