Sweden v Scotland: Laying the foundations

Of course, a good performance and mediocre outcome could be built upon, he knows that, but having realised that the time he has with players is at a premium, the less of it he has to spend building them up and bolstering self-belief, the more he can dedicate to drilling them on set pieces, organising and educating them in the way he thinks will undermine the fellow challengers in Group I. Those matches get underway in lass than a month when the Scots travel to Kaunas to open their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign against Lithuania. Next it is Liechtenstein at home, then Czech Republic away, before hosting Spain on 12 October. It is a quick flurry of games and ones which will go a long way to deciding whether the country will again be watching a major championships from the sofa or actually taking part.

"I just want to try to win the game. I have been watching a few games up to now and I'm watching to get a wee feel for how players are looking at this stage of the season. It's difficult to gauge form just now. I can watch him and say he looks like he has had a good pre-season and he looks in good nick but I'm not so sure that the form is obvious. Maybe come Lithuania there may be one or two who, during the month of August, might make it into the squad on form. Might.

"We want to get off to a good start. People will think we will beat Lithuania no problem but it's not as simple as that. I have kind of put the Spain games to the side, not because I don't think we can win but because I think those games will take care of themselves, we all know what it will be like, the atmosphere will be tremendous and I don't even need to worry about that. Logically, though, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, here and away, these will be the games which will decide our placings and the mini-group. No disrespect to Liechtenstein but you would think that those are games we should be looking to win. This group in the middle is the key."

Which is why the Swedish game is being seen as a worthy dress rehearsal. Away from home and against a team ranked highly, organised and possessed of a very British style of worth ethic and physical prowess, they also have class players at their disposal, with the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic returning to the international fold. It renders the fixture a tough one for Scotland but it's the kind of standards Levein wants his players to be attaining. "The idea behind the away match is for me to get a feel for how it works. We have played one good side here and I want to test them again because I would like us to go into this Lithuania game thinking we are going into a tough match. They have jumped up the rankings recently and are sitting on our tails so there's not much in it. If I asked you guys if Lithuania should come across here and expect to win, you would say no, but the Lithuanians feel the same about us. They feel they will beat us at home. That's what their thinking is. So, Sweden is a really tough match and that's the kind of mentality we are going to need to win against Lithuania."

Lithuania are ranked just below Scotland, the Czech Republic listed a good few places above and, having watched the teams over the summer, Levein says that would be a fair reflection of their merits. "Look at the rankings, it will be Spain, the Czech Republic, ourselves, Lithuania and then Liechtenstein, that's how it comes out in the rankings and the challenge for us is to jump up at least one place. The difficulty again is that in a club situation you have an idea from watching game after game after game roughly what the opposition's team is going to be but with international football, there's a lot of different factors which can influence who starts the match so getting the information to players is tough."

He has compiled footage and information on all 20 players in the Scotland squad but while he has their team well sussed from watching countless DVDs, he says he still has not settled on his own starting XI, preferring to wait until the weekend fixtures are all out the way and assessing who he still has at his disposal. Certain club managers have been unhappy at losing key players this week. Other players such as Kenny Miller, who is suffering from shin splints, may also be ruled out.

"I haven't picked the team and deliberately haven't gone down that road because I don't see that point. I have an idea in my head what shape we are going to play and I have looked extensively at the way Sweden play and I have a game plan but the final components of that will be the starting eleven. If they are all fit, though, you could probably pick six or seven of the 11 yourself, it's not too difficult."

He does expect the usual dribble of call-offs but is hopeful he can still field a strong side.

Vying for a place in it will be the likes of Charlie Adam and Graham Dorrans. Both are guys who can offer a bit of variety to the play with a bit of width and quality deliveries and while Levein is still looking for an Andy Carroll-style targetman, he says the team has to be flexible. "You play against a variety of international types and if you can't play through people you have to find another route and, if you have to go in the air, so be it. You have to have as many weapons as possible. We've guys like Adam and Dorrans and Barry Robson who have quality of delivery at set-pieces.

"A lot of people questioned when Charlie left Rangers whether he would get back into a position within a year where he was in the Scotland squad and I think that the fact people thought he was taking a step down the way would have tended to indicate he wouldn't be back in the squad but in that year he has been immense. He has pushed himself back into a position where he is ready to make the step back up again and with Graham Dorrans, who would have thought he would be here when he went down to West Brom as a kid from Livingston. We all thought that move was all because he did okay at Livingston but didn't really set the heather on fire, but his progression has been quite remarkable. The question you're asking is whether the improvement has stopped and I hope not."

And it's all about the confidence and he knows those two in particular are on a roll. That kind of thing is important in Levein's book. Going into the qualifying campaign he hopes the whole squad will have a similar kind of momentum.