Former Celtic defender Rudi Vata has warned the Scotland Under-21 side not to underestimate their opponents as the Albanians have a few players that could damage their hopes of qualifying for the finals in 2011.
The former Albania international was speaking to setanta.com ahead of Scotland’s opening game in the qualifying campaign, and, according to Vata, the side led by Artan Bushati lack a physical presence to win on Saturday.
“This is going to be a clash between two different schools of football,” explained Vata. “We like to play a technical game and have a lot of skilful players but they are lacking a physical side to their game.
“However, the Albanian U21s have got a few players who are already established in a few different countries in Europe and I believe those players with their experience and skill can maybe create some problems for Scotland.”
Meanwhile, Vata has made a startling claim about Albania’s hopes of qualifying from group ten which also includes Austria and Belarus.
He said: “They have a very difficult group, you never hear any comments from the manager or the president from the Albanian football association about what they want to achieve, so in my opinion they are just playing in this competition for participation reasons only.
“They do have some good players, but those players need to believe, they [the Albanian FA] need to show faith in them and there is the possibility of achieving better things.
“But it depends on how you transmit to the young players what you think, believe and make them believe you, so in my opinion I’m hoping they can produce some players for the ‘A’ team, but as I see it, it’s just a situation where they participate and play their normal game.
“I don’t think they have any goals to go forward in this competition.”