Inside Hearts stalwart Craig Gordon's Scotland squad return as Carver issues update on search for new set-piece coach


Two decades have passed since Craig Gordon made his international debut. At one stage this summer, it appeared as though his 75th cap would be his last.
Fast forward four months, the 41-year-old has been recalled to the set-up and now looks nailed on to extend his international career by earning an unprecedented 76th cap for his country when the Scots travel to Zagreb to face Croatia in their latest Nations League match on Saturday.
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Hide AdIn the absence of injured Norwich City goalkeeper Angus Gunn, the veteran Hearts No.1 - who became Scotland’s oldest ever international player against Finland in June - looks set to don the gloves for Steve Clarke’s side once again after thinking his time on the big stage was over.
His spot in Clarke’s starting XI going forward was difficult to imagine just 122 days ago when Gordon was brutally cut from the pool of players going to this summer’s European Championships in Germany. But assistant John Carver never doubted that Gordon would call it quits and turn his back on the national team, given his outstanding commitment over the past 20 years.


Asked if Gordon had a glint in his eye in training after joining back up with the squad for the first time since his Euro 2024 squad omission, Carver responded: “Absolutely. Craig always did because he always thought he was the best, I like that. And he always thought he was the number one. So, he was always the dominant feature in the group. There's nothing wrong with that.
“He's come into the room as if he owns it. Does that make sense? And he does. Because, you know, look at the career he's had and he's still got ahead of him. He's number one at Hearts now. And he had that determination when he was just left out of the squad for Germany. You could see it in him then that he was going to prove a point. And he has done.
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Hide Ad“You have to take your hat off to him, it's excellent what he's done, I've got to say. To come back from such a bad injury, in particular. But to force his way back into the squad and want more caps. That's what you want in a player. Determination.
“It's as if he's never been away, he's just walked in as if he's part of the fixes and fittings. When you think about it, his last conversation with Steve was... he'd got his 75th cap and he said to Steve, ‘look I'm coming back, I want 76, 77’. That's his attitude. If you think about him, he's 41, but he's had three years out injured, so in the football world, he's really 38!”
Scotland are currently operating without a specialist set-piece coach following Austin MacPhee’s decision to step down from his role with the national team last month because of his father’s illness. The former Hearts coach was an integral member of Clarke’s backroom staff for the past three years and while admitting his absence is a blow, Carver insists a tailor-made replacement could be in the pipeline.
Quizzed on whether he had taken on extra responsibility for overseeing set pieces as the search for MacPhee’s replacement continues, Carver stated: “No, obviously we've lost Austin. And we all know what Austin was about. He's a fully paid member of the Tartan Army. He wore his heart on his sleeve and he loves Scotland.
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Hide Ad“But family comes first, and he has to take care of that. We'll actually be able to go in the shower now and have some shampoo and conditioner because he uses it all! So it would be nice to actually have some shampoo left! But in all seriousness, he has to take care of his family. We'll have a look at how we're going to do it.
“When we were at the Euros, he had his assistant from Aston Villa, who was here. He'd come up and worked with us, and he's with us this time round. So we'll have a chat over the next 48 hours to see how we're going to do it. But he did a fantastic job for us, and we've seen the improvement in our set plays. Defensively, we've been excellent. And when he first came in, we scored lots of goals from him. He's a big miss because he's different.”
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