"My boys will have to play the best match of their lives if we're going to qualify," admitted Berti Vogts as he considered this afternoon's play-off with Holland. "But I have a good feeling about this game."
So, too, will the majority in a sell-out crowd at Hampden Park. Financially, the Scottish Football Association can ill-afford to miss out on a third successive major finals, but, for most, to be even this close to Portugal represents something of a triumph for Vogts's regime.
Yet the expectation gripping Glasgow is genuine. The Dutch have lost only one of Dick Advocaat's 16 games in charge, yet they enter the cauldron today undermined by internal bickering and apparently prone to implode.
"They've got players from AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona and they're up against players from Motherwell, so there's a big difference," said Vogts. "Maybe they'll respect us more after the game.
"My players don't care about reputations and will give everything for the team. We must close them down and put pressure on their midfield and defence. After the draw was made the Dutch said they were really happy to be playing Scotland - this is a chance to reply to that."
Those tempted to doubt that Scotland's blend of bright young things and stalwart club professionals can upset the visitors' glitz and glamour can draw inspiration from the German. As a player in the 1974 World Cup final in Munich, Vogts watched Johan Cruyff skip through his clutches and claim a first-minute penalty. Thereafter, Der Terrier suffocated Cruyff so effectively that the hosts' 2-1 success became a formality.
"Back in 1974 we probably only had better players in two positions - Sepp Maier in goal and Franz Beckenbauer - than the Dutch but, mentally, we were stronger," said Vogts, who is likely to ask Christian Dailly to sit in front of a back four as he did so effectively against Germany in June.
"We knew we'd win that match the moment we went 1-0 down. "Show the same kind of discipline we did that day and you can beat them."
Advocaat's most pressing problem appears to be whether to play Patrick Kluivert or Ruud van Nistelrooy as a lone striker. Relations with the Manchester United forward remain tense, though he was handed his chance to impress in a training session on Clydeside on Thursday.
Van Nistelrooy played in a "first-team" against Kluivert, only for the latter to score a hat-trick in the reserves' 3-0 win.
"I'll make a decision in the morning and tell the players then," said Advocaat, who could be swayed by Van Nistelrooy's greater match fitness. "Ruud and I respect each other, that's the most important thing. We have six or seven players in the squad who are not playing regularly for their clubs, so I'm not sure how fit they are."
Should the Dutch fall short of qualification, Advocaat and centre-half Jaap Stam will walk away from the international scene.
Guardian Service
SCOTLAND (Probable): Douglas; McNamara, Dailly, Pressley, Naysmith; Ferguson, Rae or Fletcher, McCann, McFadden, Miller, Crawford.
HOLLAND (Probable): Van der Sar; Reiziger, F de Boer, Stam, Van Bronckhorst; Seedorf, Van der Vaart, Cocu; Van der Meyde, Kluivert, Overmars.
Referee T Hauge (Norway).
