HIS bottom lip quivered and when he tried to speak there was a lump in his throat.
Craig Gordon’s emotions almost got the better of him as he was asked what it would mean to him to help Scotland qualify for the World Cup.
Even before he was able to talk, it was written all over his face.
Gordon is 42 and probably in the final months of his long and incredible career. He knows the end is nigh.
But that’s not what he’ll be thinking about when he lines up against Denmark at Hampden on Tuesday night.
It’ll be the effort it’s taken to get there, and the energy that’s going to be required to go that little bit further.
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Gordon said: “It would mean everything to me, absolutely everything.
“It’s actually making me quite emotional to even think about it.
“We’ve given ourselves that chance and we really need to focus now and prepare the best we can to try and make it happen.
“Just to qualify for a World Cup, given it’s not been done for so long, would just be something special.
“Nobody had been there since ’98 so to get there and get our fanbase back there – supporters who were cheering us even in defeat in Athens – would be amazing.
“We put in everything we had against Greece and didn’t get the result we wanted.
“But those fans were still cheering us so it would be great to send them to a World Cup.”
The fact Gordon is still playing for Scotland is genuinely incredible.
This is a guy who hasn’t played for his club in six moths. Someone left out of the last Euros squad.
After that agony he must have considered turning his back on Steve Clarke, right?
Wrong.
Gordon added: “No, not once. Not once. Never.
“I never will, I really never will.
“I’ll be available for selection for as long as I possibly can and if I can get out onto the pitch I’ll always do the best I possibly can for Scotland.
“It’s just been about perseverance and keeping going.
“You just never know when you might be needed.
“That’s been the case for me this whole season.
“I’ve come back from injury in the early part of the season but haven’t been able to force my way back into the team.
“If I get the opportunity I just need to try and show what I can still do.
“But it’s just a case of being prepared and be the best I can be in training every day.
“It’s definitely getting harder the older I get but I’ll keep giving it everything I’ve got until the point comes when I can’t do it any more.”
The truth is Gordon is now aiming to go to the finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico next summer. And who could bet against it?
He added: “I’d try my best. Of course I’d want to go, so I’d try.
“Each year and each month that goes past, it gets tougher.
“But I’ll give it everything I’ve got, for sure.
“It’s going to take absolutely everyone, from players to staff and the fans, to turn up and have big nights.
“It’s going to take one last big push. The stakes couldn’t be higher so I’m sure we’ll give it everything we’ve got.”
Gordon admits it’s not easy throwing himself around at his age. Especially when he’s been out of action for so long.
He added: “It’s not ideal, but the job is the same and I just had to block that out and try and treat the game like a normal game and another day at the office.
“But it’s not easy to do that. It takes a big effort.
“It was nice to make a few saves in the first-half to bed me in. I took a couple of good crosses in the first five or ten minutes and that got me settled into the game.
“I made a few saves and even for the first goal I made a really good save initially. I just couldn’t scramble the rebound away.
“After that I just tried to keep the team in the game as long as I could.
“I felt I could probably have done better with the third goal.
“But I’ve not played for six months so it was never going to be easy to come back in.
“I felt I hit the ground running and was pleased with most parts of the game.
“I was just more pleased for the team to have that last 20 minutes where we found the rhythm to be attacking like we were.
“That’s how we know we can play and that’s maybe been missing for a few games.
“But if we can take the way we played in that last 20 minutes into the Denmark game on Tuesday night when we’ll give ourselves a right chance.”
Gordon didn’t even know Denmark had drawn with Belarus until the final whistle was blown in Greece.
He added: “No, I didn’t.
“The fans were down the opposite end from me so I didn’t see their reaction in the second half. So I didn’t know what was happening.
“It was only after the final whistle that we heard it was 2-2.
“We then just had to wait.”
Gordon’s biggest worry now is getting his hands on an extra TICKET for Hampden.
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He added: “We only get four and I have four kids!
“So I need to see if I can get an extra one for my wife.”
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