Scotland defender John Souttar says enjoying for the nationwide crew together with his childhood buddy Ryan Gauld has been “wonderful”.
The 28-year-olds performed soccer collectively as youngsters in Aberdeenshire earlier than they progressed by Brechin Metropolis’s youth crew.
They then each moved to Dundee United – the place they shared lodging with Scotland captain Andrew Robertson – and have become first-team regulars at Tannadice earlier than their careers took completely different paths.
Souttar moved to Coronary heart of Midlothian in 2016 then Rangers in 2022 whereas Gauld is at Canadian membership Vancouver Whitecaps through spells in Portugal with Sporting, Vitoria de Setubal, Aves and Farense – in addition to mortgage transfer to Hibernian.
The pair performed incessantly collectively in Scotland youth sides and had been reunited in darkish blue when Gauld got here off the bench to affix Souttar in Saturday’s 2-1 Nations League defeat in opposition to Croatia in Zagreb.
The playmaker, as soon as thought to be one of the vital gifted younger gamers in Europe, did likewise in opposition to Portugal at Hampden Park on Tuesday.
“It is wonderful,” stated Souttar after the 0-0 draw that ended Scotland’s run of 4 consecutive defeats.
“Clearly, we grew up collectively. Our mother and father are pals, and we performed since we had been tiny, at a boys membership, in school – we went to high school collectively.
“We’ve got been by the whole lot and now we’re collectively within the nationwide crew. So, yeah, it is wonderful.”