Ryan Christie ‘desperate’ to help Scotland qualify for World Cup

Ryan Christie is too young to remember Scotland’s last venture to a World Cup but he is desperate to ensure he is in the thick of next summer’s global showpiece in North America.

The 30-year-old Bournemouth midfielder was just three when Craig Brown’s Scots went to France 98 and – like most of his team-mates – grew up accustomed to watching the national team fail to qualify for major tournaments.

But having broken the mould by making it to the last two European Championships, Christie is optimistic about the Scots’ prospects of coming through their quickfire six-game qualification group to make it to a World Cup for the first time in 28 years.

“I’m definitely too young to remember it,” he said of France 98. “It was the same when we qualified for the first Euros (in 2020), I couldn’t remember (Euro 96, the last one before that) either.

“It’s probably the same with most of the boys in the squad. It puts a bit of an extra fire behind you because I know how it felt as a kid watching Scotland not quite qualify and how gutting it was. We’re trying to be the opposite of that.

“Everybody knows how desperate we are to qualify for a World Cup, how amazing the Euros have been and the World Cup is just probably the one thing left that this generation of players wants to do and tick off the list.

“The World Cup is a massive tournament, a massive occasion. We know how much everybody in this country would love to see us go there, so it’s up to us to try and make that happen.”

Christie gave an emotional television interview after Scotland ended their major tournament drought by defeating Serbia on penalties in November 2020, and admitted there would “floods of tears again, I’m sure” if the Scots make it to the World Cup – “but hopefully this time not on camera!”

“It would be a massive, massive achievement for everyone who’s been involved in this journey so far,” he said. “It’s six massive games, six cup finals if you will and I think we go into it in a good place.”

The Scots are in a section alongside Belarus, Greece and Denmark, who they face in Copenhagen on Friday. The six matches will be played through September, October and November, and Christie believes that can help with cohesion and momentum.

“Especially when I started with Scotland, you could go into these campaigns and have a completely different team from the one you started with to the one you finish with, with it being spread out over such a long time.

“When it’s compressed, you feel like the boys are all together, there’s not that much time between camps and you can hopefully maintain any positive results or feelings in the camp that we hopefully get this time.”

Christie is delighted to have his new Bournemouth team-mate Ben Gannon Doak – who became the most expensive Scottish player in history when he moved from Liverpool for around £25million last month – back in the Scotland fold after injury halted the 19-year-old’s progress last term.

“He’s such a talented player, he’s so positive on the ball,” said Christie, who claimed Doak has been “very loud straight away” since entering the Bournemouth dressing room.

“He’s a difference-maker in games. He’s the type of player that we probably don’t make too many of in Scotland – pacy, attacking wingers. He’s come into Bournemouth and hit the ground running.

“I think he’s got a big future ahead of him and hopefully a long time with me at Bournemouth.”