Scotland's new football manager says commitment key to continuing team's revival

Scotland's Kenny Miller (L) during a friendly game against Croatia in Glasgow on March 26. Scotland's new manager George Burley believes Scotland can make it all the way to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

George Burley believes the commitment Scotland showed in the 1-1 draw at home to Croatia on Wednesday can take them all the way to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

The new Scottish manager was delighted with the attitude of his players in his first match in charge of the international team.

After going behind to Nico Kranjcar's early strike, Kenny Miller levelled for the Scots to secure a credible draw in a friendly match against a side who knocked England out as they booked their place in this summer's European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.

Burley admits Scotland lacks the footballing qualities of the top countries but believes they can still compete with the best by concentrating on their own qualities.

The Scottish boss said: "The quality of the side in the last few years under Alex McLeish and Walter Smith has been their level of commitment and we need to keep that going and build on it.

"There are still areas where we can improve, there are one or two players who can still come in, but overall the passion and commitment of the players is excellent.

"You can see that Croatia have top class performers whereas maybe we don't have that individual quality in certain areas, but we've got the quality of commitment and we need to keep showing that and working hard as a team."

Burley continued: "In the last campaign Scotland narrowly missed out on qualifying but had some very good performances. We wanted to keep that going to keep confidence high so it was important to get a decent result against Croatia.

"We're now in the build up for the World Cup qualifiers and it was a tough game on Wednesday and we'll have another one away to the Czech Republic in May.

"These matches give me the opportunity to work with the side. I learned a lot against Croatia about individuals and the team and that's what it's all about.

"With each game I'll learn a bit more and hopefully we'll continue to have belief against top teams and be able to take that into the World Cup qualifiers."

While Scotland may not have an abundance of top class players Tottenham right-back Alan Hutton is one that can be classed in that category, according to Burley.

And the Scottish international boss believes Hutton's nine million pound transfer from Rangers to the London club can help him scale even greater heights.

Burley said: "Going forward Alan is one of the finest full-backs in Europe because when he strides forward no-one can catch him.

"He played well for Scotland when he was with Rangers but I'm sure playing in the English Premiership, where he is up against some of the best players in the world every week, will benefit his game."

In Wednesday's match Croatia had opened the scoring in the 10th minute.

Kranjcar's shot from 18-yards swerved in mid-air, deceiving Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon and finding the centre of the net.

However, in the 31st minute Scotland were level.

A long ball forward by Hibernian forward Steven Fletcher, making his international debut, skimmed off the wet surface to send Miller scampering in on goal.

The Derby striker controlled the ball and from a tight angle smashed a left-foot shot towards goal which deflected off defender Josip Simunic, over goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa and into the roof of the net.