Scotland v Croatia:SCOTLAND MANAGER George Burley has challenged the players at his disposal for tonight's friendly against Croatia to stake a claim for a permanent place in his plans ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.

Burley has just 20 fit players to choose from for the clash at Hampden after seeing his squad decimated by withdrawals ahead of his first game as national coach.

Rangers quartet Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch, Christian Dailly and Allan McGregor have all pulled out through injury, with Celtic's Barry Robson completing the list of absentees from the Old Firm. Birmingham's James McFadden and Stephen Pearson of Derby are also unavailable but Burley would rather focus on those players who are in contention for his first team selection.

"The players . . . are proud and honoured to be selected in the squad," he said. "The ones who start in that line-up will be very honoured to play for their country and I'm sure that's the only thing they are thinking about at the moment. The call-offs are gone so I'm not even thinking about that. We are working with 20 players who are all desperate to play.

"The shape revolves around them and that's where we go from here. The players who are here are desperate to do well for their country, both individually and as a team. They want to get involved in the squad on a regular basis for the World Cup qualifiers over the next two years."