Che Adams believes he has still to hit the heights for Scotland that he has delivered at club level.
He comes back into the national set-up after injury forced him to pull out before the Nations League defeats to Poland and Portugal last month. The forward returns for the games with Croatia and the Portuguese buoyed by a stunning start to life in Serie A with Torino. Adams, along with Lyndon Dykes, has been one of Steve Clarke’s go-to strikers in recent years.
The 28-year-old has 33 caps, six goals and has appeared at two European Championship finals but still doesn’t think Scotland has seen the best of him. He reckons he’s been far more consistent in his five years at Southampton before he decided to swap the Premier League for Italy earlier this summer. Adams said: “Hopefully being out here in Italy will help me a lot more. I hope it’ll help me improve for the national team.
“I don’t think I’ve hit the same levels I have done at club level. I need to knuckle down and do better for the team. Whether that is assisting, scoring or doing better for the team, I just need to help the team as much as I can. I’m trying to identify what I can do to improve and become a better Scotland player.”
There has been a lot of self-reflection from the Scotland players and management team since the summer of disappointment in Germany. Clarke has also been looking for answers and Adams assured him the quality is in the squad to turn their fortunes around.
Adams said: “I spoke to him (manager) after my injury in the last camp. He asked me a few questions, like, ‘What do you think it was in the Euros and what could we have done better?’ I said a few things. We need to believe in ourselves and trust we are good players because we are. We were just unfortunate we didn’t win or give a better account of ourselves.”
Dykes suffered a pre-tournament injury and that meant Adams was first-choice striker for the Euros. It turned out to be a pretty thankless task, with the forward being the first line of defence rather than attack. He was also the man sacrificed after Ryan Porteous’ sending off in the competition opener against Germany.
Adams said: “The Euros weren’t that great for the team and I wasn’t that great. The manager played me in three games and so he trusted me. That is something I will always appreciate. The first game I was pulled at half-time but that was because of Ryan’s red card.
“It was an amazing experience and it’s made everyone hungrier again. The more you play in these competitions the more you want to be involved in them regularly and you want to do well. That’s what we’ll look to do and first things first is putting things right in this next camp.”
Adams is revitalised and admitted the disappointment of the summer took a bit of time to get over. Mixed into that, he was out of contract and pondering his own club future. His torment led him to Turin and it’s proved to be a match made in heaven … so far.
He said: “It was hard. I took a fair few weeks after it (Euro 2024) before I made the decision on my future. It had been a long season. “We had the Championship and then it was the Euros. It was really hard. You question everything, ‘What have we done wrong?’ and ‘What can we do better?’.
“Of course, you want to get better. You need to look at the positives, negatives and what you can do better. Everyone did that in the summer and made their own decision on how to move forward.”
Some players called time on their international careers after Germany but Adams still has so many goals he wants to achieve. He said: “I have 33 caps, 50 caps is a big one I want to get. We have a great camaraderie and are all mates. Andy Robertson has 70-odd caps. Hopefully, I get 50 at least!”
The Nations League is the current focus but Adams would love to be part of a Scotland squad that makes history again and ends a 28-year wait for qualification to another World Cup finals. He added: “Now the aim is the World Cup. We want to be better players and a better team. We want to make the nation believe again. We came up a bit short in the last two Euros – I’m sure we can get there and take that next step.”