ON the day that Rangers initiated moves to land a Portuguese Man o'War, one of Ibrox's old soldiers suffered a setback to his hopes of spearheading Scotland's attack in the European Championship.
Walter Smith, manager of the Scottish double winners, was in Lisbon yesterday to open negotiations with the Italian club Parma for the £3 million transfer of Fernando Couto, the former Benfica defender. On the other side of the Atlantic, Ally McCoist welcomed the news as a respite from his struggle against the calf injury which kept him out of last weekend's Scottish Cup final.
On medical advice, McCoist will sit out Sunday's friendly against the United States at New Britain. The match is the last before UEFA rules oblige Craig Brown, the Scotland manager, to name his squad for England. The Scots' final warm up fixture is against Colombia in Miami next Wednesday.
Ironically, the main beneficiary of McCoist's misfortune could be his club mate Gordon Durie. Confirming that Durie would start against the US, Brown said be would decide today whether to pair him with Kevin Gallacher, Scott Booth or John Spencer.
McCoist has cause to remember Couto, with whom he became acquainted after Scotland's 5-0 defeat in Portugal three years ago. "I was lying on the treatment table with a broken leg when he came in to swap shirts and wish me well," he said.
