Sky Sports' David Tanner looks ahead to a big few days for Scotland

My current location – where Scotland will continue their European Qualifiers campaign this week – feels more like Asia.

The city of Tbilisi in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia is a long way from home, 2,500 miles as the crow flies. For me, getting here entailed a five-hour flight to Istanbul, a lengthy layover in Turkey then another couple of hours in the air to Georgia.

It's a journey I made back in 2007, one I undertook with high hopes.

Back then, Scotland arrived in the east of the continent sitting top of their Euro 2008 preliminary group after beating Andriy Shevchenko's Ukraine 3-1 at Hampden a few days earlier and just a month after James McFadden's unforgettable goal gave them a 1-0 win over France in Paris.

The Georgians were out of contention. Their German coach Klaus Toppmoller was treating the game as a friendly, a chance to blood teenagers. The Scots arrived in the back of six consecutive wins, four of them in the European campaign. Victory for Alex McLeish's men would have virtually guaranteed qualification for the finals in Austria and Switzerland, leaving World Cup holders Italy quaking in their designer boots as they headed to Hampden for the Scots' final game.

Surely, there could be only one winner?

A 17-year old goalkeeper had a shut-out on his debut, a 16-year midfielder played like a veteran and a 17-year old forward scored in a victory for his team - and it all happened for Georgia. It was a horrible and painful defeat for Scotland, wearing their unsightly maroon change strip in its only international appearance as their dream of reaching a first major tournament since 1998 all but died.

For me, that defeat in Tbilisi proved only that Scotland need all of their best players on the pitch to do well. The coaching team of McLeish, Roy Aitken and Andy Watson had multiple injuries to deal with: Paul Hartley, Scott Brown and Alan Hutton were unfit, Lee McCulloch was suspended and Gary Naysmith did travel but failed a fitness test so Graeme Murty was given a starting berth at left back for what was his only competitive international appearance. In other words, half of the first-pick outfield team was missing. Has any Scotland side down the years - and tears - been able to cope with such high levels of absenteeism? Of course not.

On this occasion, Gordon Strachan's withdrawal problems appear - at this stage at least - to be of minimal consequence to the Scotland team sheet and certainly nothing like the injury wipe-out that so damaged his great friend McLeish. Squad player Christophe Berra of Ipswich is out and Stuart Armstrong had to spurn a long-waited recall after being injured on a horrible night for Celtic in Malmo. Of the missing men, only long-term injury victim Robert Snodgrass could be considered a certain starter out here while Brown has travelled this time after being hurt on club duty at the weekend and looks likely to be fit.

Ironically, one of the stand-ins from that disastrous night in October 2007 is now arguably Scotland's most important player. Shaun Maloney was drafted in back then at a time when he was considered a luxury player. He'll start in Tbilisi again this year, just days after leaving Chicago Fire for Hull City, but this time as an integral part of Strachan's team.

I was delighted to see Shaun move back to the UK from MLS football. His commute from the USA to Hampden for Scotland games involved a round trip of about 9,000 miles and despite usually getting a good kip his sleeping pills provided on his long-haul flights, the journeys took their toll. I have to admit I thought Shaun would be forced to sacrifice his international career for the sake of his American adventure and it says so much about his commitment to getting his country to France that he abandoned the wonderful lifestyle he enjoyed in Illinois for the Sky Bet Championship over here and all for the sake of his country.

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In my book, Shaun has scored six goals so far in this campaign. UEFA have his winner against Georgia at Ibrox down as an own goal by Akaki Khubutia and his deflected effort in Dublin credited as a John O'Shea own goal instead but I'm having none of that. By my reckoning, he has scored in five qualifiers and the last man to do that for Scotland in a single campaign was then Nantes striker Maurice Johnston in the late 1980s. Look out for a rare chance to hear wee Mo's views on the Scotland team, Strachan, his predecessor Craig Levein and - how could I forget - all things Old Firm on Sky Sports News this Thursday, with an extended version available On Demand via the Catch Up TV option on your Sky HD box at home.

Mo's international hot streak came on the way to the World Cup in 1990 - including a double in a Hampden win over a France side then managed by Michel Platini. Scotland qualified for the tournament in Italy at the expense of a team which included Eric Cantona, Didier Deschamps, Laurent Blanc, Jean-Pierre Papin and Hibs legend Franck Sauzee. Heady days. Incredibly, it's now more than 25 years since Scotland last won a game at a World Cup finals when Mo and one of Strachan's current deputies, Stuart McCall, scored against Sweden in Genoa.

Back here in the Caucuses, Scotland supporters have taken up an allocation of 2,000 tickets and a brief for the Boris Paichadze Stadium has set fans back less than a fiver each. Many of the Tartan Army members I have met here have jetted across the Caspian Sea and a bit of neighbouring Russia from their bases in the oil fields of Kazakhstan, so it feels almost like a home game to them. There is an expat community of Scots here, too - Tbilisi holds a Burns Supper in honour of Scotland's National Bard every January and the dish of the day is a particularly well-travelled haggis.

In contrast to the Scots - who would stay on course for France next summer with a win - Georgia have had a rough ride in Group D. Their campaign started with Glaswegian Aiden McGeady scoring a late winner for Ireland in Tbilisi and that had coach Temuri Ketsbaia on the back foot before he eventually tendered his resignation after a 4-0 defeat at home to Poland.

I enjoyed a very pleasant private dinner with Ketsbaia in the boardroom at Dundee's Dens Park back in October. On a nostalgic trip back to his former club, the then-Georgia coach confided in me and club directors Steve Martin and John Helms about the problems he faced in his role. He knew his time in charge of the national team was almost up but warned us that they could well damage Scotland's campaign. Let's hope he was wrong about that, although it's worth remembering that while Georgia's 1-0 defeat at Ibrox was one-sided in Scotland's favour, they almost stole an equaliser near the end.

Georgia have added some experience at the back in the shape of ex-Dundee and Rangers centre-back Zurab Khizanishvili. Zura was kind enough to fly from Georgia to the Fernando Ricksen Benefit Match at Ibrox at the start of the year, where he spoke of his sadness that he was temporarily out of the national team because of a fall-out with Ketsbaia. The Georgians have a good understanding of how the Scots operate - their Football Federation's vice-president is Revaz Arveladze, brother of Shota, the former Rangers striker. Shota's identical twin Archil is also involved in the coaching set-up and all three Arveladze brothers played for the national team shorty after the country was granted entry to the FIFA family following the country's independence from the Soviet Union.

New Georgian coach Kakha Tskhadadze has poor memories of Scotland having come up against them once before at Euro 92. Andy Roxburgh's men played their final group game in Norkopping against the Commonwealth of Independent States  - the temporary collective name for 12 former-USSR countries – and Tskhadadze, one of their team, had a game to forget. The CIS were captained by Rangers' Ukrainian midfielder Alexei Mikhailichenko and his Ibrox team mate Oleg Kuznetsov was Tskhadadze's central defensive partner. The Georgian had the misfortune of of being involved in two of the Scotland goals as he deflected Brian McClair's effort past his own goalkeeper Dimitri Kharine, who later had a spell at Celtic, then clumsily tripped Pat Nevin in the box which allowed penalty taker Gary McAllister to round off a 3-0 win.

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Let's hope the former Manchester City defender suffers more bad luck against the Scots on Friday night. With one win - against Gibraltar - and five defeats in Group D, the team ranked 50th out of 53 nations in the UEFA region should eventually succumb to Strachan's men. With the world champions heading for Glasgow three days later, it would be fantastic for Scotland to both win and not suffer any harm. For Grant Hanley and James Morrison, that means avoiding bookings given both are a yellow card away from missing next week's game at Hampden.

Germany coach Joachim Low has already said he expects Hampden to be hostile and let's hope he's right. It's up to the players and the Tartan Army to make it so for 90 minutes and Sky Sports will be there for that game after broadcasting live from Tbilisi too. The Germany game has sold out, such is the genuine excitement about Scotland's chances of qualifying, and it promises to be an eventful few days. Bring them on!

Watch Georgia v Scotland on Friday from 4.30pm on Sky Sports 1 HD and Scotland v Germany on Monday from 7pm on Sky Sports 1 HD.