Steve Clarke weighs up elite World Cup training bases as Scotland boss embarks on final USA scouting mission
The Scots will rubber-stamp their training HQ for next summer’s finals a week today
Steve Clarke has set out on a final scouting mission to cast his eye over more elite training facilities in the USA ahead of finalising Scotland’s World Cup base.
With just over five months to go until the nation returns to biggest stage in World Football for the first time in 28 years, the national team boss has jetted back across the Atlantic for another personal look at the hotel accommodation and training options on offer.
The Scots will face Haiti and Morocco in Boston on June 14 and June 19 before venturing down to Miami for a tasty encounter with Brazil on June 24.
A final decision is due to made on where Clarke’s 26-man squad will be based during next summer’s finals a week today (January 15), with FIFA due to assign participating nations their base camps.
According to the Scottish Sun, the former Kilmarnock boss had originally hoped to be based close to the 66,000-capacity Gillette Stadium for the first two group game fixtures. However, those plans hit the buffers when the list of options in host cities put forward by FIFA fell short of the SFA’s requirements.
As a result of concerns raised by the governing body, alternatives camps are now being considered including a new state-of-the-art £100 million training facility currently being built by the New York Red Bulls franchise in New Jersey. However, that base is expected to go to one of the bigger nations.
Clarke and his assistant manager Steven Naismith will check out a potential venue in Charlotte, North Carolina, but that would mean having to board flights to and from the matches. They will also take a closer look at suitable facilities in Florida - equidistant between Boston and Miami - where the squad are scheduled to travel to for a warm-weather training camp around a fortnight before the tournament kicks off.
Scotland set to finalise pre-World Cup friendlies
Scotland will confirm FOUR friendly matches before then, two of which are expected to be played at Hampden Park.
At present, Japan have been lined up for a clash at the national stadium in March with the finishing touches being applied to a game against the Ivory Coast set to take place at Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium a few days later.
There will then be another two warm-up games at the end of May or the beginning of June with Caribbean minnows Curacao - managed by ex-Rangers boss Dick Advocaat - bound for Hampden in what will be a farewell send-off to the players, before a clash against Peru in the United States where intensive preparations will ramp up.
It’s understood Dutch great Advocaat made a personal approach to Clarke to arrange the friendly after the World Cup draw took place in Washington in December.
The Scottish FA have sought to prepare for the finals by lining up fixtures against nations from each of the confederations represented in Group C. The squad are due to arrive at their chosen headquarters by June 8.