Reason; Berti Vogts' player selections and team tactics are finally

AS someone who gratefully received a bottle of whisky as a gift when he arrived to work in Scotland, Berti Vogts appreciates that a long wait is required to find the correct blend. It is a gradual, painstaking process of refinement. Patience is required.

Scotland have carved out consecutive victories for the first time in two years. Apparently Uefa have not yet engraved our name on the Henri Delaunay Trophy for presentation at the end of Euro 2004, but the defeats of Iceland and Canada hinted that there is at least the embryo of a promising international side.

The process has been one of trial and error. Vogts and his teams have had their share of errors, and watching it all has been a trial. To get to the brisk, well-motivated teams which enlivened Saturday afternoon and Tuesday night has involved the likes of Gary Holt, Colin Cameron and Dougie Freedman being dragged into Vogts' laboratory and discarded after failed experiments.

Until the events in Reykjavik eight days ago the scene was one of carnage, with players and systems being tried and discarded with dizzying frequency. At last, though, as the knives were being sharpened for insertion, Vogts enjoyed a week which was hugely rewarding for him and equally reassuring for those required to judge him.

The manager had all but drained the meagre talent pool of available players. An entire battalion of Scotsmen should feel indebted to him. In the eight official, and one unofficial, matches played since he took over there have been 24 players given their international debuts. There has been only one Vogts match - in the Faroe Islands - in which no one was capped for the first time.

Such a scattergun approach to team selections was offensive to many who remember when inclusion in the international team was virtually a sacred honour, but desperate times require desperate measures. Briefly cheapening the Scotland jersey by the selection of inadequate players seems a small price to pay for the eventual return of some stability to the national scene.

There was chaos to Vogts' tactics, too, but some order has also been restored in that respect. The team's defensive formation switched from four at the back to three, to four again, then three again. There was little evidence of coherence. After last weekend, though, Vogts and his players seem at ease with 3-5-2.

Players such as Stevie Thompson and Lee Wilkie have had two impressive matches against modest opposition. They remain unproven at international level, but Vogts deserves credit for identifying their potential when no one was lobbying for their inclusion. A campaign had been mobilised for Steven Pressley and Stevie Crawford to be involved in the set-up, and they quickly were. But Vogts' decision not to yield to the bandwagon yelling for James McFadden's involvement against Iceland indicated the manager was not inclined to buckle to the whim of journalists with whom he has had a frosty relationship.

Vogts could conceivably select the following team: Rab Douglas, Jackie McNamara, Dominic Matteo, Kevin McNaughton, Robbie Stockdale, Craig Burley, Paul Lambert, Barry Ferguson, Gary Naysmith, Neil McCann, and Don Hutchison. Yet not one of them was required to beat the Canadians. The most persuasive result and performance of Vogts' management so far, against Iceland, was produced with only three - Lambert, Crawford and Christian Dailly - of the starting team from his first match against France.

"We have 28 quality players," he said. "I tell you we have a good group, but it needs time. We have to build up a new team in two or three years who are ready for the big nations in international football."

Hutchison - out with a knee injury since February - appeared for West Ham reserves on Tuesday and may return to the fold, albeit not as a participant, for next month's friendly in Portugal. "We'll take him to Portugal and send a letter to West Ham," said Vogts. "It's up to his coach to say yes or no, but maybe we need him in the group. We need all the players to build the team spirit. I have to watch him. He needs good games and we need experience and practice. He has done well for Scotland and is a great guy.

"He was phoning all the players and saying 'come on, do it for Scotland'. He is very into the atmosphere." Ferguson's attitude has been similarly satisfying. "All this speculation that Rangers players don't like to play for Scotland - that is bad and stupid."

The Canada fixture seemed liable to stop Scotland's post-Iceland momentum in its tracks. The outcome was a pleasant surprise.

Even this suddenly buoyant Scottish side, though, seem ill- equipped to emerge unscathed from the friendly in Portugal on November 20. The Portuguese are not required to qualify for Euro 2004 because they are hosting it, so they are taking their friendlies seriously. A very serious night is in store for Scotland, in other words.

The SFA's international department has never been busier. Since Vogts took over the senior team have played in March, April, May (three times), August, September and October (twice). They will play in November, February, March, April (twice), May and June. He is also cramming under-21 and B internationals into the schedule. The night before the Portugal game Scotland's under-21s - unbeaten in five matches since Rainer Bonhof took over - have a fixture in Belgium. Those on the periphery of the senior squad - players such as Mark Burchill, Stephen Glass and Steven Caldwell - will be drafted in to a Scotland B match in Germany on December 17.

The manager is a busy wee fellow. He rose at 5am on Wednesday to catch a flight to Reykjavik for the Iceland-Lithuania match. Iceland's 3-0 victory encouraged the notion that the Lithuanians may be poorer than Scotland had dared anticipate.

A path is opening towards a runners-up finish behind Germany after all. To continue the fantasy it is necessary to imagine limited opposition such as Israel or Slovenia (from Group One), Hungary, Latvia or Poland (Group Four) or Belgium or Estonia (Group Eight) finishing runners-up and being drawn against Scotland in next November's play-offs. What could possibly go wrong?

"We have it in our hands," said Vogts. "It was very important that we win in Iceland. The next qualification matches are over 10 days [home against Iceland on March 29 and away to Lithuania on April 2] and that is very important for us. We have to beat Iceland here and then get a point in Lithuania to make the play-offs. We are not the favourites in this group. We are looking for a play-off place. That's our target." One of the debutants in the Canada match, Birmingham City's Paul Devlin, had a virus and coughed so much after every run that he feared he was likely to make himself sick on the pitch. He had not warned the SFA he was ill in case that jeopardised his chance of a debut. As it turned out, Devlin's tidy second-half performance - and appetite for involvement - was symptomatic of the whole team's.

For the first time in a year Scotland's football team is showing signs of health.

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