FLETCH WANTS ITALIAN RETURN

Last updated : 18 February 2005 By Editor
Darren Fletcher is hoping to have recovered from his latest injury in time to play for Scotland in their World Cup qualifier against Italy on the 26 March. He told the Scottish Sun

"At the moment it is too difficult to say how long I'm going to be out for.

"The Italy game is obviously one I don't want to miss but I will just have to wait and see what shows up on the scan.

"I don't want to say I am definitely out or definitely going to be okay. It is too hard to tell just now.

However Fergie fears for the Scots if they play the match without Fletcher. He said: "I don't think Walter can afford to lose a player of that standard,"
"They have got a group of players there and you need them all the time. Outside of that, they are not endowed with a big squad of good players. So, to lose Darren Fletcher, is a killer blow to them."

He still thinks it could be a tight match though: "Italy don't batter anyone," he said. "You look at the pragmatic way they play, they get to 1-0 and are quite happy sometimes to be at 1-0."