Celtic pair James Forrest and Greg Taylor withdraw from Scotland squad for World Cup Qualifiers; John McGinn and Nathan Patterson unavailable for Wednesday's game against Denmark; new coach Austin MacPhee will miss September's matches due to coronavirus and is replaced by Steven Naismith
Monday 30 August 2021 20:54, UK
Celtic pair James Forrest and Greg Taylor are out of the Scotland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifying triple-header, the Scottish Football Association has confirmed.
The injured Celtic duo missed the 1-0 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday as did Gers right-back Nathan Patterson, who, along with Aston Villa's John McGinn "are currently following government guidelines and will not be available for our match against Denmark".
McGinn missed his side's 1-1 home draw against Brentford on Saturday after testing positive for coronavirus, but he says he has no symptoms and is "feeling fine".
Forrest and Taylor's withdrawals come after Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay and Southampton's Stuart Armstrong had already been ruled out.
Scotland play Denmark away on Wednesday and then host Moldova at Hampden on Saturday night before a trip to Austria next Tuesday.
Steve Clarke's side are second in Group F after three games, four points behind leaders Denmark.
Clarke also revealed that set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, who had just been added to his backroom staff last week, "has picked up Covid" and will miss next month's three games.
Hearts coach and former Scotland attacker Steven Naismith has been drafted in to help.
Clarke, who will not draft in any new players, said: "It is a completely different blow for me.
"I was hoping I would have a new coaching team in place, at the very last minute I asked Steven Naismith who I know as a player to step up and become an extra pair of eyes on the training pitch.
"He will be here for this camp."
