David Marshall would never rule out answering a Scotland goalkeeping SOS ahead of this summer’s European Championships. But the Hibs number one insists he is planning to head to Germany with the Tartan Army rather than Steve Clarke’s squad as they look to make major tournament history.
Marshall’s club form has caught the eye in recent months and raised questions over whether he’d ever consider u-turning on his decision to retire from international duty. The 38-year-old’s penalty save against Serbia secured Scotland’s spot at the last Euros and ended a 23-year wait for major tournament involvement. He was then between the sticks for all three games. But the 47-times capped keeper called it quits a year later after the Scots missed out on a place at the World Cup.
And he’s happy supporting his country from the stands as they bid to reach the knockout stages for the first time. More than that he insists Scotland are in safe hands with the current group of shotstoppers at Clarke’s disposal. Angus Gunn has emerged as the new number one backed up by Zander Clark, Liam Kelly and Robby McCrorie.
Craig Gordon’s re-emergence on the bench for Hearts after a year out with a double leg break has thrown the veteran keeper into the mix for Germany too. And asked if the prospect of opening Euro 2024 against the host country had him dreaming of an international return Marshall said no .. albeit not completely ruling it out in the event of an injury crisis.
He said: “No, not at all! I’m just going to keep playing away here. It was great, I enjoyed it, but full focus is on Hibs.
“The lads have been in there, Angus has stepped in and been great. Injuries is obviously a different kettle of fish – if that happens, it happens. But Craig is back fit, and Zander has been there and been good for Hearts over the last 18 months so I’m sure they’ll be fine.
“I’m hoping to go [as a fan], but I need to try to dig some tickets up. It’s not as easy as you think. I’ll maybe drop John McGinn a text and tell him he’s due me a couple after we let Aston Villa beat us in Europe! I’d like to go and take the kids and be on the other side of it.”
Marshall has made 28 appearances for the Hibees this season and been a key figure since Nick Montgomery replaced Lee Johnson in September. He was in the Leith squad that headed to Dubai yesterday for a week’s warm weather training during the winter break.
His focus is on pushing for European spots at club level before turning his attention to supporting the Scots on the continent in June. And Marshall admits it doesn’t get any better than opening the tournament against the hosts in Munich – a game he reckons Scotland should be looking to put points on the board.
He said: “Aye, it’s a good draw. To get the opener is fantastic. I remember when we opened against Brazil in France in 1998 so it’s fantastic to do that.
I was thinking how important it is in the first game, to try to take something from it, and then Germany came out the hat! So obviously it’s tough but I think the boys can be confident in terms of how they’ve done in the last couple of years.
“They’ve kicked on and some of the boys playing down south are in really good form so the confidence will be there and hopefully they can get something in that first game. Some of the third places go through as well so you’ve potentially got that as well. Hopefully they can be the first Scotland team to get out of the groups.”
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