International Call Up For Souttar and Coote

Defender Harry Souttar and midfielder Ali Coote have been named in the Scotland squad for next month’s UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Bulgaria. The tartan Terrors take their place in the squad alongside players from Aberdeen, Celtic, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Reading, Rangers and Norwich City. The young Scots will face France in their opening match before going up against Greece and Russia, with the top two in the group progressing to the quarter finals of the 16-team competition. Having reached the semi final last year, the young Scots will have to go some effort to improve on their best ever performance at this tournament. Ali came to national prominence for his performances in the Victory Shield matches at Under-16 level and he sees this as the perfect platform to enhance and develop his growing reputation. “I feel I have done well at all levels for Scotland and I will hopefully continue to be selected. It is the ideal platform for me. It gets you noticed and it pits you against quality players at your age group.” For 16-year-old midfielder Ali, this caps a fantastic week after he made his first team debut against Aberdeen last Saturday as a second half substitution. Notwithstanding his first team outing, Ali is happy to keep playing in the Development Squad just now whilst, at the same time, looking ahead to the future. Speaking to ArabZONE earlier this week he said, “I am grateful that at my age I am playing at Development level never mind in the first team squad. Having said that, my aim at the start of the season was to make my debut before I was 17, so I have achieved that. “Now my goal is a home debut, keep playing regularly, avoid injury, and make some sort of impact with a view to improving next season. I get confidence from the fact the manager will field 16-year-olds if he feels they are ready to play.” Harry Souttar, whose otherwise regular involvement at international level was hampered by illness recently, made his comeback in the Development game versus Kilmarnock on Tuesday and played over an hour before being replaced. The younger brother of the first team player spoke at a recent Scotland gathering about his desire to continuously improve including in the areas that might be taken for granted. “I'm 6ft 6 and still growing. I used to be the smallest in the family. But I'm not just a big centre-half. I like to get the ball down and play. In fact, I’m also working on my spring to jump like I'm a lot shorter.” The players will join the squad on 2nd May.