FORGET all that stuff about 500 miles. Scotland will have to travel approximately eight times that just to reach Astana for stage one of their World Cup qualifying campaign - then another 5,500 miles to reach Rimini for the second half of the double header against San Marino. By the time they return from these two matches, the round trip will have taken them the best part of 10,000 miles and back and forth across numerous time zones. And while there is a clear seven days before club duties resume, it probably doesn’t help much that the schedule of fixtures that first weekend back includes the small matter of an Old Firm match at Celtic Park.


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