Euro 2024: Scotland ready to upset Germany after ‘wonderful welcome’

John Carver expressed gratitude for Germany’s warm welcome to Scotland but stressed the focus is now on upsetting the host nation in Friday’s Euro 2024 opener in Munich.

The Scots were invited to a reception by Mayor Elisabeth Koch when they arrived at their training camp in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Sunday and midfielder John McGinn stole the show with some Bavarian dancing.

Steve Clarke’s men took part in an open training session in the Stadion am Groben on Monday, where hundreds of locals turned up in the rain to see them being put through their paces, but Carver revealed it will now all be about working towards upsetting Germany.

“It wasn’t a surprise that John was going to get up there,” said Clarke’s right-hand man, who revealed skipper Andy Robertson came off early during Scotland’s first training session simply as a precaution.

“We got here yesterday and we got a wonderful welcome from the mayor and now we want to make an impact.

“We have seen a little bit of the culture last night which was excellent and John McGinn joined in the culture which was great.

“We had an open day today which was fantastic, in awful conditions for all the families and children to come. It was a great turnout and I hope they were impressed. We just want to thank them.

“It is very important that we embrace the community and we have certainly done that. It is a fantastic environment.

“Today was about the community and allowing people to see the players, for me the real work starts tomorrow where we can look at things, how we are going to play, set-plays, what have you. So the real work starts tomorrow.

“We have had a good preparation. We have had a couple of friendlies (Gibraltar and Finland) which were excellent in my opinion because we got out of it what we need to get out of it.

“Friday is when the real business starts and we have to make sure we are ready for that and I am sure we will be.

“Let’s not forget who we are playing against. We are playing against the host nation, who are a very good team and you can never underestimate them. So we have to get our preparation right and hopefully we can get something out of the game.”

There was some concern when Liverpool left-back Robertson had to go off during the session and Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland did not take part in the full workout.

Kenny McLean was not involved while fellow midfielder Stuart Armstrong returned to training after recovering from a muscle injury but did mostly solo work.

Clarke is already without the services of Lyndon Dykes, Ben Doak, Lewis Ferguson, Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson and Jacob Brown.

Carver said: “He (Robertson) is fine. I just spoke to him, it was a precaution really, the ball just caught his ankle. We will be extra cautious but he is fine.

“It is never nice (to see him walking off) especially with the luck we have had lately. I had a chat with him as soon as training was finished and he is fine.

“Lawrence had a little bit of a niggle from the other night. He obviously had a lot of game time in the two games we played. So it is to protect him as well.

“Kenny had a little issue before the game the other night but again he will probably train tomorrow. Like I say, a little bit extra cautious. Stuart will be back with the group full-time tomorrow.

“Everybody is at different stages so we have to be careful because we are now in the tournament and we want to make sure we have everybody fit and firing for the first game.”

Scotland’s Euro 2024 schedule

Scotland have history kicking off tournaments, having been drawn to face Brazil in the opener at World Cup 1998, a game they narrowly lost 2-1 to a second-half Tom Boyd own goal.

This time around the venue is the Munich Football Arena (Allianz Arena) where Steve Clarke’s side kick-off the opening match of Euro 2024 against hosts Germany on June 14.

The Scots also face games against perennial qualifiers Switzerland in Cologne on June 19, with Hungary – who reached the knockouts in 2016 – awaiting in Stuttgart on June 23.

If Scotland finish as one of four best third-placed teams…

One of:

Sunday June 30 – Group B winners vs third-placed side from Group A/D/E/F (RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne)

Monday July 1 – Group F winners vs third-placed side from Group A/B/C (Waldstadion, Frankfurt)

Tuesday July 2: Group E winners vs third-placed side Group A/B/C/D (Allianz Arena, Munich)Quarter-finals

If Scotland finish first in Group A and win round of 16 game…

Friday July 5 (MHPArena, Stuttgart)

If Scotland finish second in Group A and win round of 16 game…

Saturday July 6 (Merkur Spiel-Arena, Dusseldorf)

If Scotland finish as one of four best third-placed teams and win round of 16 game…

One of:

Friday July 5 (MHPArena, Stuttgart)

Friday July 5 (Volksparkstadion, Hamburg)

Saturday July 6 – (Olympiastadion, Berlin)

Semi-finals

If Scotland finish first in Group A, win round of 16 game and win quarter-final…

Tuesday July 9 – kick-off 8pm (Allianz Arena, Munich)

If Scotland finish second in Group A, win round of 16 game and win quarter-final…

Wednesday July 10 – kick-off 8pm (Westfalenstadion, Dortmund)

If Scotland finish as one of four best third-placed teams, win round of 16 game and win quarter-final…

One of:

Tuesday July 9 – kick-off 8pm (Allianz Arena, Munich)

Wednesday July 10 – kick-off 8pm (Westfalenstadion, Dortmund)

And finally, the final…

Sunday July 14 – kick-off 8pm (Olympiastadion, Berlin)