Pedro Caixinha: 'Scotland need to focus on main game aspects'

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 11 October 2017

Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha believes that Scotland must focus on tactics and style of play instead of just fitness and physicality.

Rangers manager Pedro Caixinha has criticised Gordon Strachan's comments blaming Scotland's failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup on genetics.

Instead, the Portuguese coach believes that more focus on the main aspects of the game, such as tactical awareness, is needed to get the national team to the next level.

A 2-2 draw with Slovenia on Sunday saw Scotland finish third in Group F on goal difference and miss out on the chance to make the playoffs.

Caixinha, who completed his coaching badges with the Scottish FA in 2011, told Sky Sports News: "You need to respect his point of view, but he also mentioned that Scotland and Spain were the shortest ones. But Spain play a lot of football, so I think it's nothing to do with that.

"When I came here to do my badges, I was really obsessed with the way things were done here for the coaches' education, and I really learned a lot when I was here.

"So I was expecting that things were going in that direction. If the education of the coaches is so good, the whole of football should also be very good from the base to the top, from the youth system to the professional league.

"But if the focus is on the fitness side and physicality, I think we are not focused on the main [aspects] of the game - the decisions, the tactical side, the style of play, the game models, the training methodology."

Scotland have not qualified for the finals of a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France.