Craig Gordon: 'No room for debate' over Scotland desire as he makes Andy Robertson celebration

With his Scotland career having spanned four previous failed attempts to reach the World Cup finals, Craig Gordon isn’t about to entertain any suggestion he should be happy to stand aside and wave Ukraine on their way to Qatar at Hampden on Wednesday night.

The play-off semi-final takes place against an unprecedented backdrop of widespread sympathy for Scotland’s opponents, to the extent that even former national team captain Graeme Souness has expressed a wish for Ukraine to progress as a retort to Russia’s military invasion.

It’s a sentiment which cuts no ice with Scotland goalkeeper Gordon as the 39-year-old looks to make the most of what is likely to be his last chance to make it to football’s greatest stage.

“I know everybody here, our aim is to get to the World Cup,” said Gordon. “No matter which team gets put in our way, we have to try to win the match. There is no room for that (debate). It is up to each individual supporter to decide what they want. For us as a group, we want to try to win a football match.

“He (Souness) is entitled to his opinion. It doesn’t really matter. I know the guys that go out on the pitch, the squad here, would desperately love to get to a World Cup. It’s maybe a bit different for him - he’s not playing now. For us players, these opportunities don’t come around very often. We desperately want to make this our time. We have a very difficult match to win just to get through to the next stage. So that’s all we are concentrating on. We want to go and try to win that and whoever anybody wants to support, that’s entirely up to them.

“We just have to concentrate on the football. Yes (it is easy to do that) because that’s what we’re trained to do. We can’t even imagine what’s going on (in