Malta vs Scotland: Matt Ritchie hopes Scots can be surprise package in World Cup qualifiers

The Scots were the only country from the British Isles not to make it to France in the summer

Matt Ritchie has made an encouraging start to his career at Newcastle and hopes to continue for Scotland (Getty)

Matt Ritchie hopes Scotland can replicate Wales' Euro exploits and be the surprise package in the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign.

The Scots were the only country from the British Isles not to make it to France in the summer.

From those that did go, Chris Coleman's Welsh side fared the best in getting to the semi-finals of the tournament before losing to eventual winners Portugal.

Scotland begin their quest to reach Russia with an away game in Malta on Sunday and England, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania are also in a group from which only the winners are guaranteed qualification.

The Scots are far from favourites to come out on top but the 26-year-old Newcastle United attacker looked to Wales for inspiration.

"Hopefully we can be that surprise package, yes," he said.

"No one expected Wales to do so well in the Euros and they did fantastically well so hopefully we can have the same sort of impact on our group.

"We are looking forward to it. The last campaign was disappointing but we took the positives from it and hopefully this one can be more successful.

"It is good to start well in any campaign otherwise you have your back to the wall a little bit.

"It is important to get a good result but a good performance as well because the performance can give confidence.

"It is going to be tricky. It is not going to be easy to qualify but that is our aim and hopefully we can do so."

Ritchie also made Welsh comparisons, if perhaps tentatively, when asked about Oliver Burke and his highly-publicised move from Nottingham Forest to RB Leipzig.


 Matt Ritchie left Bournemouth for Championship Newcastle this summer 
 (Getty)

The £13million fee paid by the Bundesliga club makes the 19-year-old winger, who has been capped twice, the most expensive Scottish footballer ever.

"The sky is the limit for him if he has the mentality and the desire to impress," said the former Bournemouth player.

"If you look at his stature he is very much like Gareth Bale.

"I don't want to build him up to be Gareth Bale, he is his own man and own player but from what I have seen of his ability, the sky is limit for him.

"If he can fulfil his potential it will be great for Scotland."

Failure to reach France means Scotland have not played in a major finals for 18 years.

Ritchie insists desire was not an issue in the last campaign and nor will complacency be in Malta where three points are expected.

He said: "From the get-go there was no lack of desire and it will be the same this time. The lads are raring to go and are excited for the challenge.

"You can look at all the games and say you should win this, you should win that, but nothing is won on paper. The lads have to go out and perform.

"You've seen so many surprise results in the Euros and the group stages are the same, the teams that you should beat are sometimes your toughest games.

"As long as you are concentrated and prepared for what is in front of you I think you will be okay."

PA.