At the end of a season which saw him play 46 matches Christophe Berra might easily have felt that more than a fortnight’s break would be useful before he was expected to prepare to face some of the world’s best players, but he is not complaining.
Wrong side of 30 though he may now be the Ipswich Town defender is among those elite sportsmen who genuinely seem to understand how privileged their lives are.
However there is also an acknowledgement that there would have been no lack of relish for involvement had Scotland achieved their objective of qualifying for this summer’s football extravaganza, so they have no right to any resentment of taking part in matches that may improve their chances of qualifying for a major tournament for the first time in what will be 20 years by the time the World Cup comes around.
“Don't get me wrong, there’ll be boys tired, physically it's a long season and especially in the British game, it's a high tempo, but it's only an extra 10 days and there's no better feeling that representing your country and hearing that national anthem,” he said.
“The boys will be going out to do everyone proud. Obviously some have had some holidays, I managed to get a week away with my daughter, but to be honest, we all wanted to be playing the Euros and we wouldn't have been complaining then about only having two weeks holiday.
“It's part and parcel of being a professional sportsman. We have a great life, a great lifestyle, a great job, but you have to take the odd downside.”
His name suggests otherwise but not only does Berra have no mixed emotions as Scotland prepare to face one half of his family’s original homeland, he reckons his father is now fully committed to the cause too.
“He still has a little French accent, but he has been in Scotland for 40 odd years,” Berra explained.
“I’m sure he will be supporting his son but he will always look out for France. At first his loyalties were to France after he first came here and he still keeps in contact with people over there but I’d class him more as Scottish than French now.”
However he can also remember the enthusiasm with which France were urged on when they watched it at his uncle’s house in 1998 and his respect for both Continental giants that Scotland are preparing to face is considerable.
“They are two massive nations with a lot of expectations on their shoulders to do well in the tournament,” said Berra.
“We know Italy will be well drilled and they have good individuals. They have picked up a lot recently and are getting back to what they used to be.
“France have picked up as well and they both have world class players. We will have to be really on it if we want to be competitive.
“We need a performance we can build on to take into the qualifiers.”
Which brings us back to those points about the Scotland squad understanding just how lucky they are to wear the jersey, which has not always been the case and understanding that these matches are an opportunity to start making amends for being the only national team in the British Isles that will not be in France when the serious business gets underway this summer.
“They will either be full throttle ahead of the competition or be a bit tired from the league campaign and not want to pick up any injuries,” Berra said of Italy and France.
“They might want to be fresher for when the real action starts, but I would prefer they were at full throttle.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here