Scotland manager Gordon Strachan has declared his excitement for the upcoming World Cup qualifying campaign after naming his squad for the opening game in Malta.

Strachan has called up uncapped Hearts goalkeeper Jack Hamilton and Fulham midfielder Kevin McDonald, formerly of Dundee, as well as four players with one cap – John McGinn, Barrie McKay, Kieran Tierney and Callum Paterson.

Strachan, who left out Shaun Maloney for the September 4 clash, said: “I’m really looking forward to this. The good thing about my job is that I meet up with terrific lads, who have got to a good level. And usually when you get to that level, you are decent lads. So I’m looking forward to working with them again.

“I’m looking to get better than the last campaign. We had 12,000 people (in Gibraltar) and we have 4,500 people in Malta, sold out. So they are saying: ‘Yeah, that group did well, to a certain extent’.

“They never complain about the passion, they never complain about the work-rate, what we are trying to do. So we have to try and find another result in this group to get us to qualify.

“I know the young boys because we had them over the friendly games. So it’s something I am really looking forward to.”