McFadden primed for Alpine expedition

James McFadden told uefa.com that he feels Scotland are within touching distance of UEFA EURO 2008™ following their 3-1 win against Ukraine at Hampden Park on Saturday.

In control
The Everton FC striker added to his reputation as the darling of the Tartan Army with the decisive third goal to keep Scotland top of Group B with two games remaining and the 24-year-old believes Scotland are now firmly in control of their own destiny as they bid to reach their first major finals in a decade. "It's in our own hands now," McFadden told uefa.com. "It was before this game and even more so now. If we get four points from our next two games [against Georgia and Italy] we are going to the [UEFA] European Championship and that's a fantastic incentive for all the players."

'Nothing to fear'
The victory over Oleh Blokhin's side meant that Scotland have now won six consecutive games for the first time in 58 years and according to McFadden the confidence within the Scots camp is such they feel capable of competing with the best sides in the world. "On our day we can beat anybody and we are very hard to beat," he said. "We've got some very good players, players who are very under-rated. We are confident going into every game, but we're not getting carried away. We have two cup finals coming up, but if we play as we have been playing we have nothing to fear."

Another step
However, the victory against the Ukraine came at a cost with Lee McCulloch and Garry O'Connor both suspended for Wednesday's match in Georgia, while a number of other players including captain Barry Ferguson are also nursing knocks. On the plus side Darren Fletcher has recovered from a knee injury but irrespective of who plays in Tbilisi, McFadden is confident the Scots can take another giant step towards next year's finals.

'We are confident'
"We have a confidence and belief in ourselves and there's no reason why we can't go to Georgia and get a result," said McFadden, who saw a massive print of his wonder goal against France last month unveiled at Hampden Park's football museum earlier this week. "We have a few knocks to deal with but that's international football and with so much at stake I'm sure the boys will play through the pain barrier if they have to. Darren coming back in is a great boost as he gives us more quality in midfield, but as I said we are confident going into every game and hopefully we can gat another win on Wednesday."