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FOOTBALLBURLEY MOANS CALL-OFFS ARE HINDERING WORLD CUP
George Burley: Hit out Wednesday May 28,2008 By Andy McInnesGeorge Burley last night admitted continual withdrawals from his international squad are hindering his preparation for the World Cup Qualifiers. The Scotland boss hit out after Rangers striker Kris Boyd became the FIFTH player to pull out of the Friendly against the Czech Republic on Friday. Boyd joined Ibrox team-mates Kevin Thomson and Steven Whittaker alongwith Birmingham's James McFadden and Alan Hutton of Chelsea as the most recent call-offs but he was already having to do without Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch,Kevin Thomson, Alan McGregor, Scott Brown and Davie Weir! Now, with just one more build-up match scheduled against Northern Ireland, he is desperate to discover his strongest side before the opening South Africa 2010 double header with Macedonia and Iceland in September. Burley has been hampered not only by the lack of first pick experienced players but the inability to call on anglos who stopped playing three weeks ago and are now off on holiday .
But while annoyed at the enforced situation and threatening to axe big names who don't turn up in the future he insists that the opportunity is now there for fringe players to make their mark and stake a claim for a regular place. '' It's frustrating but maybe it comes with the territory '' he said '' Of course I want the strongest squad available to me but there's not a lot we can do about at the moment so it's a case of pushing on. '' It is hindering our preparations for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers . I don't think I overdone things by arranging just three preparation games in total so it would be nice to get a full compliment to assess our best line-up but unfortunately that hasn't happened.
'' You get criticised for playing Friendlies but it's the only way you are going to get it right. '' We were without seven players for the first Friendly with Croatia and now we have lost five in the last few days added to those who were left out before I even named the latest squad. '' You expect to see injuries at this time of the season and it hasn't helped that some of the lads who interest us south of the border finished a few weeks ago and are now on holiday . '' Boyd joined up with us but he has a tight hamstring and said he didn't feel right so after the medical people looked at him we let him go. Burley is adamant however that the incentive is there for his replacement players to make their mark in Prague where two players -- Barry Robson and James Morrison -- will make their debut and Kevin McNaughton will come back and start as well.
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