Former Hibs hero ready to turn Euro dream into reality as he outlines Germany squad expectations

Ryan Porteous is ready to step up on the biggest stage for Scotland this summer. | SNS Group

The waiting game is almost over for Ryan Porteous and his Scotland teammates with dreams of Euro 2024 about to become a reality.

The bar has been set by Steve Clarke and his coaching staff and the no-nonsense former Hibs defender is desperate to play his part in creating their own piece of history by becoming the first-ever Scotland team to advance from the group stage of a major tournament.

All eyes were on Glasgow’s Blythswood Hotel on Monday as the national team squad reconvened for the first time since March and Porteous declared spirits are high in the camp ahead of a big summer of football.

That is despite a run of seven games without a victory for the Tartan Army and with anticipation growing ahead of the tournament curtain raiser against host nation Germany, Porteous insists the occasion won’t faze him as he talked up the importance of heading to their training base on the back of two friendlies victories.

The Scots travel to Faro to face minnows Gibraltar on Monday evening before entertaining Finland at Hampden Park four days later. Clarke will then be faced with the difficult decision to whittle down his 28-man preliminary squad to a final 26.

And Watford centre-back Porteous insists the squad won’t be going to Germany just to make up the numbers. He stated: “It’s taken a while to come along because we qualified so early. But now it’s almost here, it’s great to catch up with all the guys again. We are all ready to go.

“To be involved in a game like that (against Germany), it’s what dreams are made of. It’ll basically be the first time in my lifetime that Scotland fans will be over there with us at a major tournament. If I’m involved, that would be brilliant. If not, I’ll still do my best to help the boys.

“The fans can go over there and enjoy themselves, but we’re obviously going over there to do a job. We’ve come a long way in the last four or five years. It definitely makes you proud when you go home and everyone gives you a pat on the back for doing what you’re doing with Scotland.

“But I think we’ve all had enough pats on the back now. It’s about trying to make that next step. We’ve gone a few games without a win now. We’ll definitely be trying to rectify that on Monday night then we’ll take it from there.”

Scotland have participated in 11 major tournaments (eight World Cups and three European Championships) but have failed to progress beyond the group stage and Porteous is hopeful the current crop of players can etch their names into the history books by becoming the first squad to achieve the feat. He admitted: “We can’t look too far. But, first and foremost, we definitely want to try and get out of the group. That’s the first objective. I wasn’t at the last Euros. But, from the conversations we’ve had as a team, the lads were disappointed with not getting out that group, albeit it was a tough group.    

“As a squad, we’ve talked about getting pats on the back. But we want to try and do what no Scotland team has ever done before – and that’s getting out of the group at a major tournament. The squad have been brilliant at breaking records and setting landmarks. Hopefully we can do that again.”

Porteous wasn’t included as part Clarke’s squad for the Covid-affected Euro 2020 tournament, but revealed he was watching on from the stands during the goalless draw with England at Wembley.

Reminiscing about the game, he added: “I was actually down in London. I was down there with some mates and family. I was in amongst the crowd, which was brilliant. We got a good result that night at Wembley and the Tartan Army were loving it. Hopefully we can do that again in Germany. We know we can get big results.”