Robertson anticipates an excited Hampden crowd on Saturday as everyone looks forward to the World Cup.

However, he is glad to be playing friendlies rather than being involved in nerve-shredding play-offs to reach the finals.

Northern Ireland, Wales and Republic of Ireland all suffered play-off defeats this week and will miss out on the tournament in USA, Mexico and Canada, making Robertson appreciate automatic qualification all the more.

“My initial thoughts were that it shows how hard it is to qualify for the World Cup,” he said when asked for his reaction to their results.

“I don’t think people need to realise in this country but I hope it maybe sets another reminder of how special what the lads and staff and everyone else connected did collectively.

“It’s so hard to first of all finish top of your group but then if you don’t you go into the play-offs.

“I think last night when the games kicked off I was delighted we’ve got a friendly on Saturday, we weren’t involved in any games yesterday.

“It’s just about us looking forward to the World Cup now, just everyone enjoying the achievement and hopefully they can go and achieve more.”

Now the countdown to the finals continues with two tests against non-European opposition and the captain said that was a rarity he was looking forward to, as well as expecting real questions to be asked of his side.

“They are really important, amazing games to be involved in,” he added.

“It’s also the chance to see the whole squad and to see what other lads do. The manager’s always been quite good at using these games.

“We want to go into the World Cup with momentum.”