One of Ralston or McCrorie is expected to start against Germany in next Friday’s crunch curtain raiser.
They bumped Brazil, dumped the Dutch and then thumped France as they cut their teeth on the international stage. Now Scotland’s class of 2017/18 have their sights set on gunning down Germany on the biggest stage of all.
Okay, it might be a stretch to compare our young guns’ exploits at the Toulon Tournament with what is staring them in the face when Steve Clarke’s troops get Euro 2024 underway against the host nation in Munich a week tonight. But for Anthony Ralston, Ross McCrorie, Greg Taylor, Ryan Porteous and Billy Gilmour the experience of taking a scalp at tournament level is real. It was seven years ago this week that a Taylor thunderbolt was enough for Scot Gemmill’s side to beat the much fancied Brazilians on their way to finishing third in the competition.
Ralston and McCrorie also featured that evening in southern France. A year later, on the same stage, Ralston and Taylor were joined by Porteous and a 16-year-old Billy Gilmour as the hosts were cut down to size thanks to an Oli Burke goal.
In between times a Netherlands U21 side featuring Barcelona’s Frenkie De Jong, Inter Milan ace Denzel Dumfries, Steven Bergwijn of Ajax and Sam Lammers were beaten 2-0 in a Euro qualifier that also saw Scott McKenna and Lewis Morgan involved.
For Ralston they’re not just happy memories but proof that even the younger elements of this current squad heading to Germany have been known to produce shocks on the big stage when they stick together.
Which is exactly why he and McCrorie won’t be crossing swords – or staring daggers across the dining room as he puts it – over the fight to nail down that right wing back role for the big kick off in Munich next Friday. The Celtic wide man said: “No, it’s part of football at club level.
“It’s nowhere near daggers across the dining room table or anything like that. I actually get on really well with Ross, he’s a great guy..
“I’ve known him since we were kids playing against each other. He’s a very good player and it’s just football that there’s competition in every position here and the same at your club.
“The boys that have been involved since youth together like Ryan, Greg, myself, Ross, Billy…these boys have been together at youth level and involved in big tournaments. To now potentially be involved in a tournament together at the top level is nice and it’s good to show that, throughout your journey, going different paths, you end up coming together for this.
“It’s all healthy competition and good to push each other on. Hopefully we can all be part of it.
“The squad is very talented, strong and you obviously need to take each game as it comes, with the hope we can go as far as possible in the tournament. We have a really good squad to do that.”
Big games don’t faze Ralston. He might not be first choice right back at Celtic but he’s had a plentiful dose of European experience right from his 2017 meeting with PSG and Neymar through to scoring against Real Betis in 2021.
The 25-year-old is expected to get the nod to face Finland this evening. Come through that and he could well be tackling Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala in Munich next week.
He said: “You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t thought about it. But until there’s confirmation that you are going then playing then I’m not overly dwelling on it.
“If it is myself that’s chosen it would be a case of embracing it. My main thing would be it wouldn’t be about me, it would be about the team and what my job is for the team to give us the best chance of being successful first and foremost.
“If that is the case that would be my attitude going into the game. At club level I’ve had to overcome things and a lot of players have had to do the same. At international level I’ll continue to work to prove to myself as well as others.
“That’s part of football, it’s not an easy road. There are many ups and downs so my aim is to work every day for club and international and when the opportunity comes you take it.”
It’s an opportunity that’s been on Ralston’s mind for the past three years since, like most regular Tartan Army troopers, he watched every kick of Scotland’s first Euros in over two decades on the telly in his living room alongside his pals.
He said: “I can remember Cal scored a brilliant goal here at Hampden against Croatia. I have good memories of that. Now hopefully I can be part of it. Fingers crossed I will be watching it back rather than watching it live.
“As a professional, you always dream of playing for your country, it is always an aim throughout your career to be at international level.
“One step before that is when you are a kid watching the Euros and seeing all the great players and teams and big games. “You can only imagine of doing it yourself. You always aim throughout your career at club level to put the performances in so that you can be involved at this level yourself. That is the aim.”
Clarke brought the squad back from Monday night’s friendly win over Gibraltar in Portugal so they could feel the excitement building in the country.
Now Ralston is hoping to feed that buzz with a farewell victory over Finland tonight. He said: “It’s definitely something that has been building up around, even before we met up. You meet people and bump into them and they are saying ‘I hope you go on and do well’.
“So there is a real feel good factor around it and that is really nice. You want everyone to enjoy and embrace it. Hopefully we can give them a good performance and something to be happy about.
“It is important for ourselves to put in a good a performance and get a good result before the tournament and also for the fans who have come out to support and give us a send off, it would be nice for them to go away feeling good and be entertained. That’s the task for us guys to do that for them.”
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