John McGinn admits he was “petrified” after being forced off with injury in January, casting doubt over his World Cup place, as the Aston Villa captain looks ahead to their maiden tournament appearance for 28 years.

Speaking ahead of their latest friendly against the Ivory Coast in Merseyside, McGinn recalled the panic from the injury at Villa Park.

“I remember right away feeling, oh, this isn’t right. It was 10, 15 minutes into the game, I blocked a pass against Everton, and I knew right away, so my hand goes up, and obviously, I’ve known experienced players who have done serious knee injuries six months plus, feeling able to walk off.

“I was petrified, really, but then you get the scan, and you wait, and thankfully it was good news that it was only a minor knee injury.

“The knee obviously reacts in different ways to surgery, but it could have been a lot, lot worse. It was expected to be six to eight weeks. Managed to come back in six weeks.”

“I thought it was an important time for the club, an important time of the season, big games, but then, as the days went on, it started to swell more and there was more fluid in the knee,” he recalls.

“So, as much as I like to think I could have braved on, it was clear quite soon that I needed the surgery. As you get older, of course, you need to look after your body. I’m 31 now, so to do anything crazy would be wild.”

Ten years ago this past weekend, McGinn collected the first of 84 international caps against Denmark. The former Hibs midfielder appreciated the journey he and his teammates have embarked on.

“It was a friendly against a team who had qualified, but we had nothing to play for,” he recalls. “It does seem like a long time ago, but the way we’ve evolved as a group of players is huge.

“How far we’ve come is incredible.”

Having represented Scotland at back-to-back European Championships, McGinn understands the rise in expectations from the Tartan Army ahead of their overseas trip to Boston and Miami.

“There’s still so much we’ve got to improve, we know that,” he says. “But we’re a small country, fighting against bigger nations. We don’t have the same luxuries that they do. But what we do have is grit and determination.

“Was this our best campaign? No, probably not in terms of performances. But we had one objective, and that was to finish first in the group, create some history, and we managed to do that.”