Scotland vs Iceland: Head coach Steve Clarke proud of squad commitment

Steve Clarke believes the collective willingness of his star players to turn up and face Iceland and Liechtenstein in end-of-season friendlies highlights the commitment and harmony within his Scotland squad.

The head coach named a 25-man squad on May 19, and there have been no withdrawals in the intervening period, with everyone available for Friday's clash with Iceland at Hampden.

That number includes senior players like Andy Robertson, Scott McTominay, John McGinn and Billy Gilmour, who have been operating at the sharp end of European football throughout the campaign.

"The biggest thing for me is that everybody's turned up," said Clarke as he faced the media on Thursday. "I think that's great. We've come to the end of a long, hard season, a lot of them could have had little excuses or little niggles.

"There's one or two in the camp now that are still getting rid of little niggles from the end of the season, but they're all here and they all want to play, and that's great for me.

"Since I came here, this group of players have always said that they are so committed to coming and performing for their country. Every time I pick a squad, they all want to be here.

"One or two of them have called me up in this camp that haven't been selected, asking me to select them! But if they're not quite fit, then obviously I can't do that."

Ahead of the World Cup qualifying campaign, Clarke - who has seven uncapped players in his squad - is taking the Iceland match seriously as he aims to improve on a "not very good" record of one win nine friendlies.

"You know me well by now, I don't really experiment too much," he said. "I think the process with any team, especially a national team, is there has to be a cycle, there has to be a turnover of players eventually.

"People make a lot of the seven uncapped players in the squad. But you're bringing these young players in to feel the level of the group, to understand where they need to get to, to be selected regularly for the national team.

"It's important not to discard the ones that have been relatively successful over certainly my six years in charge and make sure that there's always a little production line of players coming through that we can rely on in the future."

Scotland squad in full

Goalkeepers: Angus Gunn (Norwich), Robby McCrorie (Kilmarnock), Cieran Slicker (Ipswich).

Defenders: Josh Doig (Sassuolo), Grant Hanley (Birmingham), Jack Hendry (Al Etiffaq), Max Johnston (Sturm Graz), Scott McKenna (Las Palmas), Nathan Patterson (Everton), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Andy Robertson (Liverpool), John Souttar (Rangers), Kieran Tierney (Arsenal).

Midfielders: Connor Barron (Rangers), Lewis Ferguson (Bologna), Billy Gilmour (Napoli), Andy Irving (West Ham), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Scott McTominay (Napoli), Lennon Miller (Motherwell).

Forwards: Che Adams (Torino), Kieron Bowie (Hibernian), Tommy Conway (Middlesbrough), George Hirst (Ipswich), James Wilson (Hearts).