by Stuart Crowther

Date: 16th May 2002

O'Connor leads the line for Scotland Garry set from the start against South Africa GARRY O'CONNOR WILL LEAD SCOTLAND'S ATTACK against South Korea in front of around 50,000 fans eager for a glimpse at their side ahead of the World Cup finals in two weeks. O'Connor has been named in Berti Vogts young side for the opening match of their Far East tour where they will also face South Africa and Hong Kong.  The Scots were greeted by monsoon conditions that severely curtailed their planned training sessions ahead of the game, but the spirit in the camp was not diminished in the slightest with the experience of playing in front of such a large and mainly hostile crowd exactly what Vogts was looking for.  The Scotland boss said: "We need to play in this atmosphere and I'm sure our players will cope because they are used to it.  There will be 50,000 there in this one but we need that experience because when we go to Dortmund to face Germany in the Euro 2004 qualifiers there will be around 67,000." O'Connor - first start for Scotland Vogts has been impressed by the Hibs striker and not only because of his performances in the closing games of the season, but his general attitude in training with the Scotland squad.  Vogts said: "Garry is a goal-getter and we need one, just look at our squad list and you will see skipper Christian Dailly is top scorer - with just two goals to his credit.  Garry and Kevin Kyle has also done well in training and I feel we need a presence up front now.  We are playing friendlies right now instead of World Cup ties because we drew at home against Croatia and Belgium - that is the key for me." Meanwhile back home Everton look set to visit Easter Road on July 29th - although there has been no official confirmation from the Easter Road club.  The Premiership side will play Aberdeen at Pittodrie and according to their official web site they are also scheduled to visit Easter Road.  It would be a break in recent tradition by Hibernian who have avoided playing pre-season matches in the capital.  Hibs will return from a pre-season tour of Finland shortly before the proposed match against the Merseyside outfit.