HAVING worked together at two different clubs throughout their careers, Lawrence Shankland says he’s pleased to be reuniting with Derek McInnes once again at Rangers.
The forward made the move to his boyhood club prior to jetting off to the FIFA World Cup in North America, and he has since been joined by McInnes at Ibrox following the 54-year-old’s appointment as manager.
For Shankland, his focus has remained on Scotland’s exploits on the biggest stage of all, but he was certainly pleased upon learning that he will be starting his Gers career with McInnes in the dugout.
Speaking at Scotland’s press conference yesterday, the 30-year-old commented: “I saw the news while I was over here. I’m pleased for the manager.
“I’ve not really had too much time to think about it. It’s something I’m putting to the back of my mind.
“I’m looking forward to a fresh start when I go back, but right now I’m focusing on this World Cup and enjoying the tournament.
“Time has gone really fast! I looked at the date since when everything happened at the end of the season to getting to this point, it’s not actually been that long.
“The main thing is that I want to just enjoy this tournament, and I’ll think about the rest of the stuff when I get back home.”
The immediate challenge for Shankland and his Scotland teammates is a showdown with Brazil tomorrow evening in Miami, kick-off 11pm UK time.
Steve Clarke’s side sit in a strong position to advance to the knockout stages owing to their opening matchday victory over Haiti, where Shankland led the line alongside Che Adams, but could face a nervous wait until the conclusion of the tournament’s group stage fixtures to know for certain.
Brazil are the most decorated team in World Cup history, and Shankland is under no illusions as to the scale of the task in South Florida.
He added: “For me, particularly, when you think of the World Cup, Brazil are one of the first teams that come to your mind. They are the first team I remember in the World Cup, and winning it.
“We know the challenge and that side of it, but what we need to concentrate on is our jobs on the pitch. We’re up against a good side, and we’ll need to be at our best.
"A draw will probably be enough to take us through, but we go there to try and win the game first and foremost. If we can take a point from it, then we’ll take that.
“I think in the Morocco game, particularly towards the end, we had a lot of moments. We just never managed to get on the end of them.
“There was one towards the end where Ben Gannon-Doak got in the way of Scott McTominay. It was just those small moments which can play a factor in results.
“We’re getting into good areas and we believe we have the quality in the squad that when we get into those areas to produce that quality we’re going to need.”
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