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Belgium national football team
Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage
Jun 11, 2019 at 7.45pm UK
 
Scotland national football team

3-0

Lukaku (45', 57'), De Bruyne (92')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Clarke demanding 'an almost-perfect performance' to beat Belgium

Clarke demanding 'an almost-perfect performance' to beat Belgium
© Reuters
The new Scotland manager is looking to build on an opening victory over Cyprus.

Steve Clarke has called on his Scotland players to strive for perfection if they are to cause a shock in their Euro 2020 qualifier with Belgium on Tuesday night.

The former Kilmarnock boss began his tenure with a 2-1 win over Cyprus at Hampden Park on Saturday night to move the Scots three points behind the Red Devils who have won all three Group I matches.

Although Belgium are ranked number one in the world, Clarke believes he knows what is required to beat them in Brussels.

Speaking at the King Baudouin Stadium, he said: "Hopefully the players will remember a lot of the messages they got last week, and then you have to execute your plan.

"We have to hope for an almost-perfect performance, certainly defensively. We can't make too many mistakes because we know if we do, that we will be punished.

"They are a good team. We will give them all the respect they deserve, we will go out there and try to make it as difficult as possible for them."

The former West Brom and Reading manager, however, stressed that simply defending for the whole game is not an option.

He said: "I always say to the players that you have to let the opposition know that you have the capability to hurt them, so it's important to get the defensive side right.

"But if you go through the game and try to play 97 minutes with no attacking threat then it's going to be a really long night, so you have to get the balance right.

"Belief and mentality is very important. It's something we spoke about a lot last week, about the positivity, that we try to build around the camp.

"I think there was a good feeling going into the Cyprus game.

"We did the usual Scottish bit where we tried to make a mess of it but we finished the game well and on a high so we still have that positivity around the squad and hopefully you can see that on the pitch tomorrow."

Belgium beat Scotland 4-0 in a friendly at Hampden Park in September 2018 when Alex McLeish was in charge but Clarke will read little into that result.

The former Scotland defender said: "Things have changed. Football has moved on. Every game is different, there are no two football matches the same.

"Hopefully a better performance from us and a better outcome."

One of the Belgium scorers that night was Romelu Lukaku, whom Clarke worked with at West Brom, and he recalled the Manchester United attacker with some fondness.

He said: "He was a very talented player, it was great to work with him. We had a fantastic season together at West Brom, and he scored 17 goals for us.

"We finished in a very good position. He's got a great work ethic, he was a boy who loved to score goals.

"When he was a young player at West Brom I couldn't get him off the training pitch. I had to go outside and drag him just to rest his legs.

"I'm really pleased he's had such a fantastic career but obviously I hope he doesn't do so well tomorrow night."

Clarke slimmed down his squad by leaving behind midfielder Tom Cairney, centre back Mikey Devlin, goalkeeper Liam Kelly and attacker Lewis Morgan.

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Tables header RHS

Group A

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Spain Spain870121
Q Scotland flag Scotland852117
3 Norway Norway832311
4 Georgia Georgia82248
5 Cyprus Cyprus80080

Group B

TeamPWDLPTS
Q France France871022
Q Netherlands Netherlands860218
3 Greece Greece841313
4 Ireland Rep. Ireland82066
5 Gibraltar flag Gibraltar80080

Group C

TeamPWDLPTS
Q England flag England862020
Q Italy Italy842214
3 Ukraine Ukraine842214
4 Macedonia N. Macedonia82248
5 Malta flag Malta80080

Group D

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Turkey Turkey852117
Q Croatia Croatia851216
3 Wales flag Wales833212
4 Armenia Armenia82248
5 Latvia Latvia81073

Group E

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Albania national flag Albania843115
Q Czech Republic Czech Republic843115
3 Poland Poland832311
4 Republic of Moldova Moldova824210
5 Faroe Islands Faroe Islands80262

Group F

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Belgium Belgium862020
Q Austria Austria861119
3 Sweden Sweden831410
4 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan82157
5 Estonia Estonia80171

Group G

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Hungary Hungary853018
Q Serbia Serbia842214
3 Montenegro Montenegro832311
4 Lithuania Lithuania81346
5 Bulgaria Bulgaria80444

Group H

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Denmark Denmark1071222
Q Slovenia Slovenia1071222
3 Finland Finland1060418
4 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan1060418
5 Northern Ireland flag N. Ireland103079
6 San Marino flag San Marino1000100

Group I

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Romania Romania1064022
Q Switzerland Switzerland1045117
3 Israel Israel1043315
4 Belarus Belarus1033412
5 Kosovo flag Kosovo1025311
6 Andorra flag Andorra100282

Group J

TeamPWDLPTS
Q Portugal Portugal10100030
Q Slovakia Slovakia1071222
3 Luxembourg flag Luxembourg1052317
4 Iceland Iceland1031610
5 Bosnia Bosnia H'vina103079
6 Liechtenstein flag Liechtenstein1000100


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