Josef Sural is next to test goalkeeper Allan McGregor with a shot to the near post. My goodness, "Greegsy" is earning his cap tonight. He looks the most out-of-breath Scotland player! How can that be?!

Image source, Getty Images

Italy coach Antonio Conte, heavily linked with a move to Chelsea after Euro 2016, looks a bit glum. Perhaps the west London flat he had his eye on has been snapped up...

Anyway...his side have kicked off against current European champions Spain. Still goalless in the opening stages of their friendly.

Elsewhere, Ukraine are leading 1-0 against Cyprus at the break thanks to Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Taras Stepanenko.

The eastern European side host Wales on Monday, and face Northern Ireland in France this summer, remember.

Borek Dockal isn't as threatening with his second free-kick but in the moments that follow Martin Frydek smacks a gorgeous left-foot shot at the Scotland goal where Allan McGregor, all in green, stretches his body to palm it over the bar. He looked like the Green Cross Code man catching an apple from a grateful schoolkid.

Czech striker Borek Dockal hits the Scotland crossbar with a fabulous curling free-kick over the wall and Thomas Sivok then draws a great save from Allan McGregor with his looping header. That's a let-off.

Hmm. Charlie Mulgrew upsets a Czech attack with a sliding challenge but Christophe Berra then concedes a rather soft foul just outside the box...

Commentator Liam McLeod informs BBC Radio Scotland listeners that Kenny McLean is the first Aberdeen player to be capped since Chris Maguire in Dublin in 2011.

Postpublished at 19:51 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2016

19:51 GMT 24 March 2016

Darren Fletcher, earning his 71st cap for Scotland, concedes an early foul by clipping Hertha Berlin midfielder Vladimir Darida.

We are under way. Come on, Scotland!

The stadium falls into silence to remember the wonderful Netherlands player Johan Cruyff, who has died of lung cancer at the age of 68.

Koubek, Kaderabek, Sivok, Kadlec, Limbersky, Vacek, Darida, Sural, Frydek, Dockal, Necid. Subs: Vaclik, Gebre Selassie, Brabec, Skalak, Pudil, Marecek, Rada, Kolar, Suchy, Krejci, Vydra, Hruska.

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan: “Kenny McLean just needs to bring what he brings to Aberdeen – passing well, getting forward, being a threat, showing composure.

(On why Ross McCormack was preferred to Watt)

“It’s hard to play two guys close together, both making their debuts (McLean and Watt). I thought Ross has been superb in training, and Tony has done well too. We will see how they go.

“I hope everyone wants to be the best player on the pitch, and if they can’t be that, just be a good team-mate.

“We just need to improve 10% in different areas and we will have a right good chance of qualifying [for the 2018 World Cup]."

OK, just five minutes to kick-off.

It's a galling thought, but unless Scotland can reach their first finals since the World Cup in France in 1998 then there's a danger that years from now Tartan Army "footsoldiers" will be wheeled into TV studios to recall the days of "legendary" Craig Brown and Colin Hendry. It could be Scotland's football equivalent of the last living soldier to have seen action on the Western Front. So let's hope this is the start of a great period for the national team, when they can build their confidence ahead of that first World Cup qualifier away to Malta.

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan originally named two almost entirely different 19-man squads for this evening's match and the friendly against Denmark at Hampden on Tuesday. There have been some call-offs since, such as the Norwich Stevens, Whittaker and Naismith, and a few players have been added, such as Birmingham full-back Paul Caddis. Can anyone impress the manager sufficiently to become a regular in future Scotland squads?

Paul in Dunfermline