Scotland must swim or drown

James McFadden claimed he should have had a penalty in Scotland's 1-0 loss to Macedonia on Saturday, their manager George Burley claimed his side played well in defeat but it was Macedonia who claimed the three points. In the unruly world of international football, claiming the win is all that matters. When a game is over, it is over no matter how sickly the taste feels. Scotland lost their opening match of their World Cup qualifying section and if they suffer a similar setback tonight, against Iceland in Reykjavik, their hopes of reaching a first World Cup finals since France in 1998, may well find themselves buried deep within one of those geysers and hot springs in which tourists and the local folk like to relax.

But hope springs eternal despite there being little time for Burley to luxuriate over the past few days. The Rangers midfielder Lee McCulloch announced his retirement amid rumours of general disquiet in the Scotland camp. It was all tossed aside yesterday by players such as the Manchester United player Darren Fletcher, but there is a real need for Scotland to register a least a point, and preferably three from their own point of view, against an Iceland team who sneaked out of Oslo with a 1-1 draw against Norway.

Scotland hope the Rangers striker Kenny Miller will be fit but the West Brom midfielder James Morrison has pulled out because of an ankle problem. The Birmingham forward McFadden intimated that Scotland, a side ranked 16th in the world rankings after beating France twice in their Euro 2008 qualifiers, would have to win their remaining seven qualifying games to secure a place at the 2010 finals in South Africa, While that may seem a little bit stringent, the need to gain the momentum that only points bring is of utmost important, especially after the flatness of losing in Skopje to Macedonia.

Northern Ireland are in a similar state of flux ahead of their home encounter with the Czech Republic. They lost their opening match 2-1 in Slovakia, and the Sunderland defender George McCartney could be missing due to a hamstring injury. Wales face Euro 2008 semi- finalists Russia after struggling to a 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan on Saturday, while the Republic of Ireland aim to repeat their 2-1 win over Georgia when they travel to Montenegro.