Levein and Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque will discuss fixtures

By Alasdair Lamont

A potentially crucial step towards Euro 2012 qualification will be taken by Scotland in the Spanish capital of Madrid on Friday - without a ball being kicked.

Scotland manager Craig Levein, accompanied by the Scottish Football Association's chief executive and president - Gordon Smith and George Peat - will meet their counterparts from the other countries in Group I to decide when the fixtures will be played.

This coming together of officials from Scotland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Liechtenstein is hardly likely to have supporters drooling in anticipation.

Yet, if Levein and the rest of the Scottish entourage can return home with anything like their ideal fixture list, it will be a small and perhaps vital victory.

The five nations' representatives will get round a table in the headquarters of the RFEF - the Spanish Football Federation - in las Rozas in the outskirts of the capital.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1000 local time, but when it will finish depends very much upon how quickly agreement can be reached.

Levein says he will go into the meeting with an open mind, but he will have preferred scenarios - as well as those to avoid.

As Kenny Dalglish pointed out on Wednesday: "The last time (during World Cup 2010 qualification) we went to Macedonia at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and it was 100 degrees.

Kenny Miller and Scotland suffered in Macedonia

"That wasn't too helpful. So, if we can avoid things like that, with a good rotation, that'll be good.

"If you play Spain and the Czech Republic away and you walk away with no points, it doesn't look good.

"There has to be a balance about it. So if you play those two first then I wouldn't say that was the best start."

Levein and company are certainly mindful of the need to get the campaign off to a good start, to "put points on the board early" to use a commonly uttered phrase.

Seven weeks of international football have been allocated in which to play the required fixtures.

Of course, Scotland and their rivals need fewer than that because they are in a group of only five teams, with most comprising six.

The first dates fall in early September and the chances are that Scotland will try to secure games against Lithuania and Liechtenstein within that period - the former at home, the latter (the lowest-ranked team in the group) possibly away.

There is no need for Scotland to play "double-headers" - two games in a week - but they may wish to.

What the Scots will certainly try to avoid is playing two games in June 2011, right at the end of next season.

There is an ideal scenario whereby they do not have to play any qualifying matches at that stage of the year - but, more likely, is that they will play one.

If they are asked by the other nations in the group to accept two games then, they will refuse, using their right - which each country has - to go to a "deadlock".

In that scenario, each country is allocated a letter (A to E) and a pre-determined schedule is presented.

Even then, though, no country is bound to agree. And, if disagreements persist, Uefa steps in, removing the democracy of the process and allocating fixtures as it sees fit.

That suits no-one, however, but serves to show that Friday's meeting could be a lengthy one, as each association tries to get the best possible deal.

Former Scotland manager Craig Brown says he followed a pattern established by his predecessor Andy Roxburgh when he was arranging fixtures.

MY SPORT: DEBATE Give your thoughts on Scotland's fixtures

He told BBC Scotland on Thursday: "My formula was to get a major opponent away first. My ideal scenario would be Prague first, then Lithuania. I would want two away games and finish with two home games.

"However, Craig might want to get points on the board. He might want to get Liechtenstein at home and give them a thumping.

"But if you lose some ground when you're at the top, you get the jitters. I would rather come from behind.

"We want to avoid Spain in the heat. We want to bring them to Hampden in the middle of winter and hope it is a muddy pitch.

"But you don't win the matches at the meeting, you win them on the pitch, and hopefully Craig will do that."

There will, at least, be no repeat of the scheduling that led to Scotland playing Norway away from home at the start of this season, resulting in a 4-0 defeat.

No games will be played between the beginning of June and the start of September.

The associations were due to gather for dinner in Madrid on Thursday evening. Whether Friday's meeting will be quite so cordial is up for debate.

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