Ryan Christie feels Scotland’s convincing success in claiming a World Cup play-off spot shows they are ready to take the next step.
The Scots ended their Group F campaign with an outstanding run of six straight victories, culminating in Monday’s memorable 2-0 triumph over group winners Denmark.
That saw Steve Clarke’s men take second place by a margin of seven points, while they ended the campaign only four points behind a Danish side which reached the Euro 2020 semi-finals.
Scotland will discover their play-off opponents next Friday, with the single-leg semi-final on March 24-25 guaranteed to be at Hampden Park.
Inverness-born midfielder Christie says securing the victory against the Danes, which means the Scots will be seeded for the play-off draw, underlines the level they are aiming to compete at.
Christie said: “We’re riding a good wave at the minute. We went into the game on the back of five wins on the trot and we also wanted to put right the away game in Denmark. We didn’t think we did ourselves justice over there.
“The manager kind of touched on it as being like the next step.
“We saw how well Denmark did at the Euros and we want to start competing against these kind of teams, to show what we are capable of.
“We went one better by winning 2-0. It gives us a great belief going into the play-offs.”
Midfielder intent on replicating play-off success
Christie was an integral part of the side which reached Euro 2020 in the summer, to end Scotland’s 23-year wait to appear at a major tournament.
Having come through play-off matches against Israel and Serbia to book a place at the finals, Christie hopes the experience can help Clarke’s men in their attempts to reach next year’s tournament in Qatar.
Bournemouth midfielder Christie said: “We were on a similar kind of run going into the last play-offs, which suited us nicely.
“It’s nice to be able to do the same for the World Cup.
“Obviously it was a bit different the last time.
“We had to wait that bit longer due to the whole Covid thing. It was our first experience of it.
“But I think those past play-offs will serve us well for this time. That experience will help us.
“Now everyone’s buzzing for the draw and we’ll see where it takes us.
“But first and foremost, it was a great night against Denmark and we’re all just buzzing with the result.”
Although Scotland did not progress through the group stages at the Euros, Christie says the occasion has left him with a burning desire to make qualification a regular occurrence.
The 26-year-old added: “I think the Euros gave us a load of experience. Everybody said how such a long time it had been for us to be in a tournament.
“None of us had experienced any time at a tournament, so it was a first for us.
“I think everybody said on the back of it that we didn’t want it to be a one off. We wanted to get it again.
“Even with the kind of frustrating start we had to the qualifying, we managed to spark it again. Now we’re seeded going into the play-offs.
“We’re flying at the minute and the only frustrating thing is how far away March is.”
