Vogts sees long-term Severin pay-off

Edinburgh has earned a reputation for offering a rather cool welcome to visitors, but Berti Vogts can testify differently. The man whose relationship with a nation was in the deep freeze until a trip to Iceland eight days ago finally felt a thaw as he tried to keep out the Scottish capital's biting cold last Tuesday.

Vogts stood on the Easter Road touchline with his collar up, seemingly wrapped up in his thoughts as Scotland cruised towards a 3-1 success over Canada. Then, the cry went up "Berti, Berti give us a wave". The German bashfully responded, acknowledging that he had finally arrived eight months after setting foot in his adopted country.

You could not blame Vogts if he had stayed on in Edinburgh for the rest of the week. His re-apprearance across the city at Tynecastle Stadium today is to watch Hearts' encounter with Celtic in the Scottish Premier League, but it could just as easily symbolise his new Scotland era.

It was a Tynecastle discovery, Gary Naysmith, who rid Vogts of his loser tag with that stunning second goal in Reykjavik which threw Scotland a lifeline in the European Championship qualifying campaign. Three days later, the Hearts captain, Steven Pressley, was the defensive rock upon which was built the friendly victory over the Canadians.

By the time Berti had taken his bow to the Edinburgh public, the Hearts midfielder Scott Severin had made his home debut. At just 23, Severin has time to hone his game until he can one day replace Paul Lambert, his adversary today, on a permanant basis. Lambert was rested in midweek, as were Barry Ferguson of Rangers and several others, which allowed Vogts to assess several players – among them, Paul Devlin of Birmingham City and Preston's Graham Alexander. "Scott is a good player but he is very similar to Paul and Barry, and they are my top men," reflected Vogts. Like the Old Firm pair, Severin captained the Scotland Under-21 side (as did Pressley) and will relish the chance to measure up to Lambert today in front of Vogts.

Severin, though, has a better chance of inheriting the Scotland captain's armband by keeping his Edinburgh postcode. Lambert's understudy at Parkhead, Colin Healy, is good enough to be in Mick McCarthy's Republic of Ireland side but cannot get a place on the bench at Celtic, and there are others facing an equally daunting battle to break through at the Scottish champions.

Shaun Maloney and Simon Lynch are two of the Scotland Under-21 side Vogts' former German team-mate, Rainer Bonhof, has guided to an unbeaten run in his first half-dozen games. Yet neitherstriker can make an impact at club level. If John Hartson can induce tremors in Italy, but fail to disturb the Larsson-Sutton partnership, what chance have two teenagers?

Hearts, however, can testify to the damage Maloney and Lynch can do. The pair each scored twice on Celtic's last visit, when Martin O'Neill put out a second XI after the title had been wrapped up last May, and watched his precocious talents inflict a 5-1 rout. "There comes an age when you have to play regularly," said Maloney this week. "I am not at that stage yet but if I am not getting a game at 22, then maybe I would think about moving. I'd love to play for Scotland but at the moment, I'm concentrating on breaking into Celtic's side."

Lynch, meanwhile, rejected overtures from Canada – he was born in Montreal – and hopes to emulate Owen Hargreaves' success in Europe. Ironically, his father also had a foot in both camps: Andy Lynch was at Tynecastle in the 1970s before switching to Celtic and then a swansong with the Montreal Manics.

A seat in the stand today might prompt Lynch junior into thinking he's on the wrong side – Hearts have launched more Scotland careers than Celtic recently.