Hearts' Laszlo: I won't spy on Scotland

BARRY ANDERSON
CSABA LASZLO has been asked to provide Macedonia players with information on Scotland ahead of this weekend's World Cup qualifier – but the Hearts manager refused because he now considers himself Scottish.
Aleksandar Bajevski, the Macedonian forward, played under Laszlo at Ferencvaros and sent his former coach a text message asking about Scotland. Bajevski will not feature on Saturday due to a niggling injury but Laszlo is concerned that any information given out would be filtered through to Srecko Katanec, the Macedonian coach, and his squad. For fear of supplying details which may undermine the efforts of George Burley, Laszlo is refusing to reply to Bajevski until after the match, stressing he already feels Scottish and will not attempt to sabotage the nation's World Cup hopes.

"Bajevski sent me a text a few days ago but I am a Scottish guy now and I don't answer it. I will answer it after the game because it is not good to give information," said Laszlo. "Bajevski was my player at Ferencvaros. He is a very dangerous player, especially with finishing but I don't think he will play. This can be good for Scotland.

"I have a lot of experience of international football, with Hungary and Uganda. The gaps between the smaller countries and the bigger countries is getting closer so this will be a difficult match for Scotland. Macedonia has a lot of players playing outside the country in good clubs throughout Europe. They have the advantage as the home team, it is their stadium and their fans."

Laszlo pointed out the need for Scotland to combat their opponents' technical threat in order to secure a result. "Any team from the former Yugoslavia plays a similar game," he continued. "They are good technically, they play short passes and tactically they are very able. Most of those countries play 4-4-2.

"Sometimes the discipline of these teams is dangerous for themselves. If they lose discipline, this can be a good thing for Scotland because Scotland is a very disciplined team. If the Macedonia team begins to think later on, 'oh it's 0-0, we cannot score' then they can completely lose their discipline. As long as it's 0-0, Scotland can win the game with one counter-attack and this is what makes it interesting."

Temperatures in Skopje are likely to exceed 35 degrees by mid-afternoon on Saturday as the game kicks off. "The temperature is another thing," said Laszlo. "I had the same problem in Uganda, where it was normally 27 or 28 degrees. The temperature and altitude can be a danger but I'm sure the Scottish coaches, doctors and physios will know what to expect.

"I know it's a very important match for Scottish football because the national team is the most important team for everyone. The country needs a national team which can go to big tournaments like the World Cup. I wish them all the best."

Taken from the Scotsman