\n<\/p>\n
Scotland will face Bolivia for the first time but Clarke was faced with more questions about group rivals Haiti, following their 4-0 thumping of New Zealand on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
He was quick to highlight that some fans \u201chave a terrible habit of looking at these nations and thinking they are not very good or looking at where they are ranked in the world.<\/p>\n
“They play in a different section of the world, so maybe in their section they’re really good,” said Clarke. “They were much better than New Zealand.<\/p>\n
“I was never under any illusion that it was going to be a tough game. It’s probably nice that some people got to see how they played, because they now know it’s going to be a difficult game for us.”<\/p>\n
That is why Clarke – who outlined his priorities for Saturday as “no injuries, performance, result” – was quick to stress that this weekend’s game would be a \u201cstraightforward selection\u201c with the main event looming large.<\/p>\n
He added there are no “major” injury concerns, just a few players with “little grumbling things”.<\/p>\n
“Some players need minutes,” the head coach said. “I need to see one or two players in positions on the pitch and then we’ve got a week to prepare for the first game.<\/p>\n
“There’s no trying to protect players or whatever, injuries, unfortunately, are part and parcel of football. We don’t expect any, but you never know.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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