Czech U-turn makes it game on, but boss Steve Clarke was expecting that scenario anyway

Steve Clarke was last night remaining resolutely unflappable in the face of the remarkable events surrounding Scotland’s match against the Czech Republic.

On Friday, the Czechs announced that tomorrow night’s Nations League tie in Olomouc was off, due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in their squad.

However, by yesterday lunchtime, it was all systems go again with the game back on.

Anxious to avoid the potential penalty of Clarke’s side being awarded a 3-0 win because of the postponement, the Czechs had decided to go with a squad entirely made up of “new players and staff members.”

The dramatic U-turn spares the Scots travelling party any exposure to the entire group who took part in Friday’s 3-1 win in Slovakia.

As much as it is in the spirit of UEFA’s principles for Covid-19 impacted fixtures – which state games have to go ahead provided a team has 13 or more players available, including a keeper – it was still a startling development.

“We were as surprised as UEFA,” admitted SFA chief executive, Ian Maxwell. “But we have received categorical assurance that the match on Monday goes ahead.

“Furthermore, the Czech Republic have confirmed they will be able to fulfil their obligations to the match and, more importantly, to the stringent Covid-19 testing regime that is sacrosanct to ensure the safety of our players and staff.”

Ensuring those players and staff do not let themselves get distracted is the national coach’s job, and Steve Clarke’s reaction was very much one of “business as usual”.

“The game is going ahead, nothing has changed for us,” he said.

“Obviously we had the same strange feeling last night as everybody else when the Czech association came out and said the game was not going to be on.

“But there was never any doubt in our head it was going ahead.

“What format or what squad the Czech Republic are going to have is something we can’t influence. But there was never any doubt in the players’ minds that the game would be played.

“So we went to bed and woke up this morning, we had another Covid test, and then we went out to train.

“The boys who played had a little warm down, the ones who didn’t had a good session, and on Sunday we will get back on the training pitch and everyone will prepare for the game.

“So it has not affected us in any way whatsoever. In the current climate things can happen.

“We are in the middle of a global pandemic, and we have to do what we’ve been doing since the very start, and that is react to certain situations as best we can.”

The Scotland boss insisted there was no reason for anyone to be fearful about the safety of the travelling party.

“I am sure there have been a few calls (from clubs of the players in the squad) into the relevant authorities,” he said.

“But we have got good people looking after us, and we are following all the relevant protocols.

“Dr John MacLean is with the team now in-camp, and has been involved in this process from the start.

“We have had assurances from UEFA that in the Czech Republic everything will be tested properly and done correctly.

“We will go there in a bubble, and we don’t need to come across anybody.

“I have had four Covid tests in the last 12 days.

“So we are good to go, and we take it at face value that everything is good on the other side.”

SFA doctor John MacLean outlined everything that’s being done to protect players and coaches.

He said: “We’ve gone even further than UEFA have asked for.

“All of our players and staff have been tested four times in the last 10 days, including one on Saturday morning.

“We have had a really tight bubble.

“One of the players asked if he could see his wife and family outside our hotel because he hasn’t seen them for a couple of weeks after being away with his club.

“We said no, because we’d rather not take any chances.

“The players are eating meals in three different sittings and get no maid service. And we take photographs of players eating dinner and where they are sit on the bus.

“That ensures that if someone tests positive, we can identify how close that individual has been to others.

“In Olomouc, we will demand of the UEFA delegate that every bit of protocol is followed.”