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James McFadden believes Scotland can reach the 2016 European Championship

James McFadden unattached
Image: James McFadden: Thinks that Scotland can aim high after an encouraging performance against Germany

Former Everton striker James McFadden believes Scotland can reach the 2016 European Championship after their encouraging display against Germany.

The 31-year-old, capped 48 times for his country, is confident of progression despite losing 2-1 to the World Cup winners at Signal Iduna Park in their opening European qualifier.

Speaking to the Morning View on Sky Sports News HQ, McFadden said: ''I thought it was a very good performance, especially in the second half, and the fact that we’re all disappointed that we never took something from the game shows how well we've done.

''We’ve got to aim higher especially after last night’s performance. Germany did enough to win the game but I think we had a chance to take something from it. We’ve got to take the confidence going into the rest of the games and aim for second and guarantee the qualification outright.''

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James McFadden was disappointed that Scotland came away with nothing after their performance against Germany.

Watford winger Ikechi Anya equalised in the 66th minute for Scotland, and McFadden is convinced having English-based players helps Scotland's cause when facing top European nations.

''In England, it’s the place to be to play their football especially in the Premier League. It’s a very tough league. It’s one of the best in the world and the fact we have so many players playing there can only help the national team.''

Scotland were unbeaten in five matches before Sunday and McFadden puts the improvement in recent performances down to the work of manager Gordon Strachan.

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''I think it’s massively down to the manager. I think every time the boys are doing press conferences or interviews they’re mentioning how much he’s been a factor," he said.

"They are enjoying training, playing the games and obviously you can see in the performances over the last year, and with the results as well, that he’s made a massive difference.''

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