The Scotland national futsal team is gearing up for their first home match in six years as Northern Ireland travel to Dundee.
The two sides will face off in a double-header this coming weekend with a number of new faces involved for the Scots.
It’s their first match since World Cup qualifying in Bulgaria last spring and heralds the start of their build up to more qualifiers in January.
“There’s been a fair turnover in the squad and probably more so this time than ever before,” head coach Gordon McGillivray said.
“It’s very much the beginning of a training block that will lead to the Euro qualifiers at the end of January.
“The training group has a lot of new players which is very positive for me.
“Several from different teams, teams who haven’t had players in the Scotland group before which is obviously positive.
“With the emergence of teams like Aberdeen, Joga and Escocia into the Super League it increases the talent pool for me to choose from.
“That’s incredibly positive.”
Home comforts
Scotland’s last home fixture came all the way back in 2017 as the Home Nations came to Oriam in Edinburgh.
The Scots beat Northern Ireland that time around 4-1 with goals from Ahmed Aloulou, Lee Cameron, Scott Smith and Kevin Hagan.
“When I took over the job a couple of years ago I was very keen to get home friendlies organised,” McGillivray added.
“We weren’t able to do it in the block before Bulgaria. Coming off the back of Covid it was just too difficult.
“But I’ve been keen for the players to get the chance to represent their country with their family and friends there to see.”
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland haven’t played since a 3-3 draw with Israel in World Cup qualifying back in April.
So what can Scotland expect from their visitors?
“I’m quite friendly with their coaching staff and they’ve had a bit of turnover as well so it’ll be a different Northern Ireland team to the one we faced before,” the Scotland coach said.
“They did quite well in their qualifying campaign last year as well.
“So they’ll come here confident and it’ll be a good challenge for the boys.
“But it’s a challenge we’re looking forward to.”
Squads
The first match of the double header kicks off on Saturday at 7pm at DISC in Dundee with the second match starting at 4.30pm on Sunday at the same venue.
Squad for Saturday:
Ben O'Hanlon - Wessex
Robert Black - Dundee
Kyle Ballingall - PYF Saltires
Grant Campbell - Aberdeen FA
Cameron Taylor - Futsal Escocia
Kairn Brand - PYF Saltires
Callum Husband - Futsal Escocia
Lewis Mackie - Joga
Kai Lawless - Bolton
Adam Fairweather - FC33
Oscar Lucas - Bolton
Ryan Robb - Letham Santos
Adam Binnie - Joga
Chris Angus - Aberdeen FA
Squad for Sunday:
Ben O'Hanlon - Wessex
Darren Clarkson - Letham Santos
Kyle Ballingall - PYF Saltires
Cooper Knox - Joga
Fraser Smith - Letham Santos
Lewis Mackie - Joga
Owen Cairns - Aberdeen FA
Kai Lawless - Bolton
Oscar Lucas - Bolton
Scott Mollison - Letham Santos
Scott Smith - PYF Saltires
Chris Angus - Aberdeen FA
Caleb Holness - Futsal Escocia
Liam Kelly - Futsal Escocia