England have their sights set on the future but, for Scotland, Saturday's fixture is all about the present

For the Scotland team, Saturday's match is about the now, the present moment. England are looking towards the future, but want it to be another step in that direction

England are looking to keep moving forward as a side (Getty)

You could call it a classic piece of Gordon Strachan edginess, about what seems a classic bit of team-building. Because, after a week when England have spent so much time talking about a boot camp in Devon with the Royal Marines, the Scotland manager was asked about the benefit of such events and whether they work.

While speaking very respectfully in relation to how Gareth Southgate knows what he specifically needs for his own team ahead of their World Cup qualifier in Hampden Park on Saturday, Strachan has been more dismissive of such exercises in the past, and was interesting on it in the present.

“The best bond is when you are on the field and in the dressing-room,” the Scotland manager said. “That’s it. I’ve seen it all before. The go-kart days, nights out, golf days. All that happens is they get drunk and start fighting with each other.”

Then there was the true pay-off, as he pointed to Chris Martin’s late goal from a crucial qualifier in March. “You could have 20 nights out and it wouldn’t have brought the feeling of that Slovenia winner," Strachan proclaimed.

So what would the effect of a winner against England be, given everything this fixture has meant in the past and given everything it could mean for Scotland in this group?

The very discussions, however, sum up the contrasting situations. One of football’s most historic fixtures is for the Scots about the now, but for England it is about the long-term future. That’s genuinely what it seems to come down to.

Gordon Strachan is fully focused on the present and what it means for his side (Getty)

While England have spent the last few days talking about how they can make themselves better in future tournaments, to the point the opposition weren’t actually mentioned that often in any of their media activities, even though this is just the third time this grandiose game has been played north of the border in the last 28 years, Scotland simply cannot look beyond this match.

England are looking to make qualification all but certain, Scotland to put in a realistic challenge for a play-off place. Strachan’s squad are meanwhile finding themselves again, while Southgate’s are finding form.

“We're in a good moment at the minute, since the boss has been here,” Adam Lallana said on the eve of the match. “Session by session, we're gaining our identity and where we want to go as a team. These next two games are vital to keep pushing towards where we want to go. Qualifying for Russia and achieving something out there.”

Gareth Southgate's men are looking at Saturday's game in a very different way to their rivals (Getty)

Again, looking to the future. There can be no doubt this match means more to Scotland. They probably have to get some kind of result - given they lie in fourth, a point behind Slovenia, two behind Slovakia and six behind their oldest rivals - even though Strachan was asked beforehand whether this is a “free hit” in the sense that a defeat to a superior side would be forgivable.

“I don’t think it’s a free hit, I really don’t think it’s like that,” Strachan. “I genuinely believe we can win the game. I really do, and I’d be really disappointed if we didn’t get anything from the game.”

Strachan is taking an analytical approach to that, though, and demanding a certain coolness from his side. He appreciates the fixture more than most, having actually played in some of its most famous encounters, but doesn’t actually want his side to follow the example of those games.

“We’re not fighting in the streets anymore, it’s not [the Battle of] Culloden and all the rest of it. It was good fun in those days because we never saw big games, and that game was huge. There were four or five games on the telly a year and this was one of them.

“It’s sort of dissipated into the background with the Champions League and all that, those games have more build-up now than this one I think.”

“I did in games like this when players thought it was great if they went clattering into tackles and the crowd went ‘Yeah!’ Then they get a yellow card or a red card in a big game and you’re playing with 10 men while they’re clapping the crowd as they go off. Everybody is cheering them on and you’re thinking: ‘What a prat. You’ve just left me and my nine mates to get on with this’. Those days are gone now as well though. That ‘get intae them’ theory of playing football is gone.”

The English-Scottish rivalry has lost some of its bite in recent years (Getty)

Southgate said much the same, and it does at least set some of the ingredients for a potentially entertaining game. Strachan has asserted his side “won’t be sitting back in numbers”, and Southgate wants England to step up their progress; to keep making steps in a more progressive style of football.

“The players want to play that way, be on the front foot," the 47-year-old said. "They have tremendous belief in themselves and the coaching staff have faith in them. They're hungry and excite me. I can see progress. There's room for development still, but that's exciting.”

Southgate’s very starting formation will tell a lot, especially if he goes with the in-fashion three-at-the-back he did in the Match friendly defeat to Germany, given the flexibility it allows. The likelihood is that, no matter the modern game, Scotland would have to match that superior English technical quality - that Strachan himself so praised - with a certain amount of old-fashioned tenacity, even if it’s not quite ‘getting intae them’.

Southgate said he can see progress in his side (Getty)

Amidst all of that, there was the most old-fashioned question in football, even if it equally said so much that it was only asked of Strachan and not Southgate: what it would mean to win this game?

“You would have to come into the dressing room and see the 10 minutes after that,” the Scottish manager said. “The time you take to speak to people after the game, it’s half an hour after and that magic moment is gone. You can never really get involved in that magic moment unless you’re there.”

It was another bit of Strachan edginess, but again perfectly reflected the situation: for the Scotland team, it’s about the now, the present moment. England are looking towards the future, but want this match to be another step in that direction.