World Cup 2026: Scotland assistant Steven Naismith ‘very optimistic’ about chances of progressing from group stages | Football News

100 days out from World Cup 2026, Scotland assistant coach Steven Naismith is feeling “very optimistic” about his country’s chances of progressing beyond the group stages for the first time.

The national team have been drawn in Group C, alongside five-time world champions Brazil, 2022 semi-finalists Morocco, and Haiti – the only Caribbean side to have qualified twice.

The 51-time capped forward, who played under Steve Clarke before joining his coaching staff in 2021, believes this current group of players can create even more history after ending the nation’s 28-year wait for World Cup qualification.

“If I’m honest, if you looked at the teams involved and our squad and where it’s at, before the draw even came out, I had a feeling that our aim, and the manager’s been very big on this way back to when we narrowly missed out in the Ukraine play-off, that we can’t not just get to the finals, we can definitely progress,” he told Sky Sports News.

“So I think the games are all going to be tough, the conditions are going to be tough, but that’s the same for everybody.

“You’re playing against a lot of different nations that you don’t come up as much against. They’ll be tough games, but I definitely feel we’ve got what it takes within the group to progress and be the first team to do that at the World Cup.

“What we’ve got is a squad of leaders who are at their prime, playing at big clubs to guide the potential younger guys in the squad as well.

“So we are very optimistic. It’s going to be hard work, but we will definitely do all we can.

“This group have continuously excelled and made their own history. The next step, and what would be really nice for some of the guys, is to finish their career to be the ones that push through the group stage and into the knockout stages of a World Cup.”

Why Charlotte for base camp?

Naismith has spent the last few months travelling the east coast of the USA in search of a suitable training base.

It has since been confirmed that base will be in Charlotte, North Carolina, at MLS club Charlotte FC’s state-of-the-art training facility.

“I think the biggest thing I’ve got a grasp of from being in America quite a bit is just the scale and the travel,” added Naismith.

“The heat and the travel are going to be things that every country that is there is going to need to deal with, and we’ve got to prepare in the build-up as well as we can to get used to that, and then make sure that our surrounding base camp is as comfortable as possible for the players.

“It was just about doing the legwork, getting to each facility, getting to every hotel and understanding what works for us.

“We’d done a bit of work with the players, with past tournament experience, and lessons learned from then on what we want, and then we travelled the whole east coast to find out which one we felt was best.

“Charlotte was really high up in our pick because the location’s very good, it’s a lovely city, the humidity and the heat’s going to be there, it’s an MLS facility in terms of our training base, so that gives the players the feel that they are in the environment they are used to at their clubs.

“And then on top of that, travel, as I said before, travel’s going to be big. I think for any European team, a European away game or an international away game, four or four and a half hours, you’re thinking that travel’s quite long, I think that’s going to be the norm [at the World Cup], if not short…

“This is how we came to our final decision, and we’re delighted with it, and we think it’ll be a great base.”

How can players catch Clarke’s eye?

Scotland will take on Japan at Hampden Park and Ivory Coast at Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium later this month as they continue their preparations for this summer’s tournament.

That next camp will be their last before meeting up in June for send-off and warm-up matches, and the final chance for players to impress in a Scotland jersey before the initial World Cup squad is selected.

Naismith said: “I think it’s open season, there are players that will be sitting there hoping that they can make the squad, that maybe haven’t been in a squad.

“There’ll be guys that have been on the fringes and maybe not played so much recently, that will want to be in the squad, so it’s all about showing your value to the 26-man squad that gets to the World Cup.

“Now the dynamics of this group, I’ve said many times, is the best I’ve seen.

“It’s the closest I’ve seen to being a club, and there’s an element that you need to keep that foundation to make sure that that amazing bond and that amazing fight that you’ve seen in the Denmark game here is still there, but you also need to make sure you’ve got the players that are on-form and can contribute in the tournament.

“So I think it’s an opportunity for every player to basically be saying to the manager, get me in your squad.

“I think the first bit is don’t try and do anything different, because the reason you are maybe thinking I’ve got a chance is because your performances are doing well, you’re maybe playing in a good team.

“I think in the past at the first Euros [2020] that the manager called up a couple of guys that didn’t have many caps, if any at all, so the manager will make what he thinks is the right decision.”