SCOTLAND flew out to Macedonia this morning for the start of their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

And manager George Burley is ready to put his faith in a host of Celtic stars as he looks to get off to a winning start in Skopje tomorrow.

The Scots boss is preparing to start with five members of Gordon Strachan's side for his first competitive game in charge of the national team.

Burley has already confirmed stand-in captain Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell will form the centre of his defence. In midfield, Scott Brown and Paul Hartley were already pencilled in to play, and now team-mate Barry Robson is set to be brought into the starting line-up with James Morrison still travelling but not fit to face Macedonia.

Kenny Miller is likely to be the only Rangers player in the starting line-up.

Scotland coach Steven Pressley said: "Barry Robson hasn't played much for Celtic this season, but he had a good end to last season and is an extremely good player. James Morrison will travel with the squad but he won't play, so Barry is very much in our thoughts. It doesn't make a difference if there are a number of Celtic players already in the team - it's what you can do for Scotland rather than who you play with that counts."

Craig Gordon is expected to start in goal, with Graham Alexander and Gary Naysmith occupying the two full-back positions either side of McManus and Caldwell.

Hartley should play in a holding midfield role with Darren Fletcher joining Brown and Robson as the more attacking options from midfield and James McFadden and Kenny Miller playing in attack, although Faddy could be asked to sit in the hole between the midfield and attack.

As Burley puts his faith in many of the players who helped Celtic secure the SPL title last term, assistant Terry Butcher insisted qualification is a realistic target for Scotland as they flew out from Glasgow Airport.

After taking on Macedonia tomorrow, Scotland return home briefly before flying out to face Iceland on Wednesday night and Butcher is confident the road to South Africa 2010 could have a successful ending.

He said: "People might say it's pie in the sky for Scotland to get to the World Cup Finals, but hold on a minute. It can be done.

"The Macedonia manager, Srecko Katanec, did it with Slovenia, a country of 1.2m people back in 2002. So it can be done if a team is well organised and believes in themselves.

"I look at this Scotland team and squad and I see the makings of a strong side who can make it. I've got a lot of confidence in these Scotland players and there is no doubt they will play for the jersey with pride.

"We are pleased with the progress we have made. The friendly fixtures were not about the results, they were about looking at the strengths and weaknesses of various players to see what they could add to the squad.

"The real action begins tomorrow and we can't wait. Hopefully we can do ourselves justice and get off to a winning start."