{"id":491837,"date":"2025-10-11T20:20:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T20:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491837\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T20:20:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T20:20:12","slug":"billy-gilmour-determined-to-start-for-scotland-and-boost-world-cup-2026-qualification-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491837\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Gilmour determined to start for Scotland and boost World Cup 2026 qualification bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scotland\u2019s Billy Gilmour admits it\u2019s frustrating when he is left out of Steve Clarke\u2019s starting line-up, but is determined to earn his place and help the national team reach World Cup 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Napoli midfielder was on the bench when Scotland kicked off against Greece on Thursday night but came on just before Greece took the lead, and then caught the eye as the hosts turned things around to win 3-1.<\/p>\n

Lewis Ferguson and Ryan Christie started ahead of Gilmour and both found the net in the vital win but also picked up yellow cards that mean they will sit out Sunday\u2019s qualifier at Belarus.<\/p>\n

That paves the way for Gilmour to play a key role from the start at Hampden, and he spoke about the importance of taking opportunities to impress Clarke.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never nice to sit on the bench,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone likes it. It wasn\u2019t great, but we\u2019ve got a squad here and you need to be ready when called upon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to show when I come on that I should be starting and that goes for the other boys as well. It\u2019s never nice, but you need to just be ready to take your chance when you get on.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, it\u2019s frustrating when you find out you\u2019re on the bench and then take the day to think things through. Then after that, when you\u2019re back on the pitch and you need to help the starting team prepare, you need to be fully there. It\u2019s a squad game and I can\u2019t be moaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to make sure I\u2019m there helping the boys because as a squad we\u2019re right together and no-one\u2019s done that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have a positive mentality and try to change his mind. There\u2019s good players in our team, especially in the midfield, we\u2019re all competing for the same position. Competition is high, but you need to try and stand out and make sure you\u2019re picked in the first 11.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilmour said he didn\u2019t think he had a point to prove to the head coach, and just needs to put in performances and follow instruction.<\/p>\n

Against Belarus, there will be an expectation that Scotland follow the win over Greece with three points against a side that have just been thumped 6-0 at home by Denmark but Gilmour says the right attitude will be needed for another positive result after a 2-0 win in the away fixture last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we played them last, they were also a good team,\u201d he said. \u201cThey tried to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me and the team, we hope to be on the ball a lot more, be on the front foot and try and win the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll need to be at it and make sure we\u2019re clinical and just try to get the three points.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland\u2019s Billy Gilmour admits it\u2019s frustrating when he is left out of Steve Clarke\u2019s starting line-up, but is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-491837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-scotland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115357393283584519","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}