Clarke looks to World Cup and more attacking threat

Steve Clarke believes he has "earned the right" to see out the two remaining years on his Scotland contract, but says his side need to be "more creative" after a poor showing at Euro 2024.

Speaking for the first time since overseeing his second major tournament as head coach, Clarke reiterated his desire to guide the national team to a World Cup, but stressed 2026 would be his "last chance" at doing so.

The next World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be the biggest edition of the tournament with 48 teams participating.

The number of European teams rises by three to 16, with the qualifying draw this winter.

"I think I've earned the right to finish my contract," he said after naming his squad for next month's Nations League games against Poland and Portugal.

"I haven't had any discussions about new contracts and I'm pretty sure in my own mind that I'll be coming up to 63 and it might be time to do something else."

Asked if he considered moving on after the disappointing summer campaign in Germany, he simply replied "no".

Clarke added: "We have to be careful not to change too much, not to turn our back on the players that have done ever so well for the country over the last few years

"Those players deserve a lot of respect from everybody and certainly from me as their coach."

Scotland reached their second successive Euros in fine style, qualifying with two games to spare as they finished runners-up to eventual champions Spain.

However, Clarke's team were trounced by Germany in the opening game and a draw with Switzerland was followed by a last-minute defeat to Hungary to crush hopes of a first appearance at the knockout stage.

"The players and myself are probably more disappointed than anybody else because we felt we had a chance to create a better history for the country," he said.

"We didn't do that. But now you have to bounce back, you have to show our resilience and move on."

On the prospect of Scotland reaching a first World Cup since 1998, Clarke added: "You know me, I'm always confident.

"If you guys are saying that we're the 24th best team in the competition this summer and only 16 European teams go to the World Cup, it's going to be a big ask. I believe we can do it. That's why I'm sitting here."

Reflecting further on the Euros and where improvements can be made, Clarke explained: "We have to look at being more creative, we have to look at trying to create more chances, but we also have to keep a defensive solidity because as a team we don't score a lot of goals, we understand that.

"In the qualifying games we were very clinical with the chances we got. In the tournament when we got the chances to score, we were perhaps not quite as clinical. We didn't get the shot away early enough or didn't show enough composure to make the finish and put the shots on target."