Kenny McLean: Scotland will have a hero in this week’s World Cup qualifiers | OneFootball

Kenny McLean is confident that a Scotland hero will emerge during this week’s World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Belarus at Hampden Park.

The 33-year-old Norwich midfielder is a regular in Steve Clarke’s squad and enjoyed the limelight when he scored a stunning last-gasp winner in the 2-1 victory over Norway in June 2023, a key result on the way to Euro 2024.

McLean also scored the decisive penalty for Scotland in their Euro 2020 qualifying play-off semi-final against Israel, and then netted the fifth spot-kick when they beat Serbia in the final in another shoot-out to qualify for their first major tournament since 1998.

Scotland, who have four points from their first two Group C matches, take on Greece at Hampden Park on Thursday before hosting Belarus on Sunday and, with there being only six qualifying fixtures, there is little margin for error.

Reflecting on his big moments for his national side, the former St Mirren and Aberdeen player, capped 52 times, said: “They are moments that you look back on and you say I’ve put myself in a position to be there, and I worked hard to do that, so I just need to work harder to put myself back in those positions again.

“I don’t care who puts ourselves in a position to make us successful. It’s about doing that and being there.

“I’ve been fortunate to have a couple of big moments in a Scotland jersey, everybody wants those moments, it is the pinnacle.

“But whoever it is, there’ll be somebody who is a hero this week, I’m sure.”

Scotland began the campaign with a 0-0 draw against Denmark in Copenhagen before a 2-0 win over Belarus in Hungary.

McLean believes the feelgood factor from that recent camp is still fresh in the minds of the players and admits getting to the finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico would be a career high.

He said: “I think it tops most things, really. When everybody speaks about career achievement and stuff, international football, that’s where everybody wants to be. The World Cup is the pinnacle.

“We’ve got an opportunity right now, and it’s about taking that opportunity because we know we’ve got the quality here to do that.

“When an opportunity like this presents itself, it’s up to us to go and take it.

“Obviously, things are very good, very positive, off the back of a couple of good results not too long ago.

“Where we are at right now, we’ve got to be in a good spot, pretty optimistic about our chances.

“The fact that it has come around pretty quick this time is good for us because it was such a successful camp last time and everybody did leave feeling good about the week that we had.

“We know that home games are where you ought to pick up points, and we’ll try to maximise that this week.

“We’re in a good place. We’ve worked so hard to get a good couple of results early on, so we don’t want to throw that away.”