Levein names youthful squad for Carling Nations Cup.

Craig Levein named a youthful and mainly English based squad of 22 today  for the coming games in the Carling Nations Cup (also called the Celtic Cup).

All of the home nations (barring England) will compete in a round robin competition of 6 games starting February 8 and February 9 and finishing at the end of May.

Levein has handed first call ups to Grant Hanley (Blackburn), Chris Maguire (Aberdeen) and Robert Snodgrass (Leeds United) and seems confident of his squads chances in the tournament saying :

“From day one my intention was to win the competition and I think this is a strong squad.

“I’ve been sending out a message for the last two or three months that we now have a group of players who I really do believe are capable of taking the game to the opposition now.

“When I first took this job, it was about being hard to beat. I really have great belief in these players that we can now be hard to stop.

This is a really exciting time for Scottish football”

With only 8 of the 22 man squad plying their trade north of the border Levein’s team should have a more English influenced edge hopefully harking back to more successful periods in Scotland footballing history.

Squad for game against Northen Ireland in Dublin February 9th :

Goalkeepers:

Bell (Kilmarnock) Gordon (Sunderland) McGregor (Rangers)

Defenders:

Bardsley (Sunderland) Berra (Wolves) Caldwell (Wigan Athletic) Hanley (Blackburn Rovers) Hutton (Tottenham Hotspur) Danny Wilson (Liverpool) Mark Wilson (Celtic)

Midfielders:

Adam (Blackpool) Bannan (Aston Villa) Brown (Celtic) Commons (Celtic) Dorrans (West Brom) Fletcher (Manchester United) McCulloch (Rangers) Morrison (West Brom)

Forwards:

Maguire (Aberdeen) Miller (Bursaspor) Naismith (Rangers) Snodgrass (Leeds United)