Burley may hand friendly debuts

Burley: World Cup focus

Scotland manager George Burley has revealed that some players may be handed their debut when his side face the Czech Republic on Friday.

The friendly will be Burley's second at the helm after he was appointed the new national manager in January following a spell with Southampton.

Motherwell's Ross McCormack may be one of those handed his debut in the game after the striker impressed Burley this season.

Scotland go into the game preparing for their World Cup qualifying matches later this year and Burley is determined to ensure his side perform well.

"It is an important game and there will be a number of players given an opportunity, maybe a few given their debut as well," Burley said in a press conference shown live on Sky Sports News.

Difficult game

"We're playing a team that's ranked around seventh in the world and preparing for the Euros so it will be very difficult.

"But we'll be looking to perform well and get something out of it."

The former Hearts manager insists these set of friendlies are worthwhile and will go some way to preparing teams for both Euro 2008 and the World Cup qualifiers.

Scotland have just one more friendly after the game against the Czech Republic to prepare for the qualifiers and Burley says the games are crucial to their chances.

Preparation

"It's very important. It's the end of the season for the club sides but at international level these are the build-up games," added Burley.

"There are a lot of teams in Europe now, like the Czech Republic, preparing for the European Championship so they're focused on that.

"Our focus is the World Cup games in September. There are so few opportunities in the international calendar to play games.

"You're trying to get things right for the World Cup and if you just ignore and not play a game I don't think that's the right preparation."