Steven Naismith says Scotland can use 'anger' of 2022 play-off defeat to help fuel World Cup quest

Scotland are aiming to use the “anger” they felt at missing out on the last World Cup to help fuel their quest towards North America next summer.

The national team have qualified for back-to-back European Championships, but haven’t reached the biggest stage of international football since 1998.

Three years ago, they were denied a place at Qatar 2022 in a 3-1 play-off defeat to Ukraine at Hampden Park.

And assistant coach Steven Naismith is adamant they can use the memory of that defeat to their advantage when they take on Greece and Belarus at the national stadium on Thursday and Sunday.

In the opening game of the section, they took a respectable and potentially vital away point from Denmark in Copenhagen, before following that up with a win over Belarus in Hungary.

They now have two home games that could strengthen their chances of qualifying for the tournament being held across the USA, Canada and Mexico next year.

And Naismith senses something special is brewing with the World Cup on the horizon.

Speaking at Hampden, the former Scotland striker said: “Yeah, I do. I felt it when I came back out of camp

“I think that combination of the schedule being tight, and we know what’s going to happen by November, we know where we’re going to be, the start we’ve had, the getting to major tournaments, that is massive.

“We’ve managed to do two Euros, we get to the play-offs for the previous World Cup, and narrowly miss out on that.

“But that all builds. It all builds on determination, an anger for not making the last World Cup, getting to tournaments, knowing that you can get there.

“It all feeds in on top of the players and individuals progressing at the clubs. That is that. But definitely the confidence is as high as I’ve seen.”

Naismith, however, remembers that Greece comfortably beat Scotland 3-0 in their Nations League play-off at Hampden in March to go up to the League A 3-1 on aggregate, while the Scots dropped down to the second tier.

The former Hearts boss said: “They were obviously excellent last time we played them, but then a surprise result against Denmark (0-3) last time around.

“If you watch the performance though, you look at the result and you think Denmark battered them, but the game wasn’t like that.

“The game was tighter. Especially two of Denmark’s goals were of real quality from what is a top team.

“It probably highlights the fine margins within the group, the squads.

“The away result against Greece and performance was excellent but coming home in the Nations League and the performance here wasn’t good enough.

“But I think we’ve got a clear idea of what needs to be better, what we’re really good at as a team, and as I said, the confidence is really high.”