Craig Levein is keen to see Scotland end their long wait to qualify for a major international tournament again. Scotland have not qualified for a World Cup or European Championship since they played the opening game in the group stages at France '98. Levein's side missed out on EURO012 after finishing behind Spain and Czech Republic, but did put on two encouraging displays against the world and European champions. Scotland have been drawn in a difficult qualifying group for Brazil 2014 along with Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Macedonia and Wales. The Scotland manager has been encouraged by a recent friendly win over Australia and is hopeful Scotland can qualify. Levein said: "I am very confident. This is the strongest squad I've had for a while so we are ready to go. The reason I took the job is to qualify for a major competition. I was fortunate to play in Italia '90 so having experienced that, it is in my head that I want to qualify with Scotland as the manager. There is no bigger incentive for any Scotsman than that." Levein is confident he has the calibre of player he needs to succeed in qualifying. He said: "The squad is improving individually, there are a lot of the players playing in the Premier League now. A few years ago there were five or six players playing in the Premier League and now it's 16 so that's the indication of level they are playing at. International football is at a similar level to the Premier League so if you can play week in week out at that level they will be able to transfer that to international level."
Source: FOOTYMAD
