The former Southampton, Celtic and Middlesbrough manager got his tenure as national team boss off to an encouraging start with a 1-0 win over Estonia in a challenge match at Pittodrie last month.
However, the serious stuff begins against the Welsh as Scotland try to rescue ailing qualification hopes.
The Scots are bottom of Group A with two points from four games, one behind Chris Coleman's men who won 2-1 when the two countries met at Cardiff in October but Strachan is desperate to put a week's work on the training ground into practise.
"I am looking forward to it," he said at Scotland's Mar Hall Hotel base on the outskirts of Glasgow.
"It is bring it on time now.
"We have done all the work, let's get the game on now.
"A result means we feel good about ourselves but a result and a performance means we feel very good about ourselves.
"But the win is what we are looking for. Results make people feel better.
"We talk of style and this and that, but as fans and players, we really just want to win.
"If we get the win and we haven't done well then we can analyse it, but I think we look for a win all the time. We are competitive animals."
One theme of Strachan's media conference was the trust he has in his squad and it is that trait which he believes could make the difference.
"We are going to put trust in 11 players tomorrow," he said.
"I could trust 26, that's for sure, but unfortunately I can only pick 11 and that has been hard.
"I have watched them all week and I have enjoyed their enthusiasm.
"It was good to stand back and watch them this morning.
"If you can't play football any more there is nothing better than watching good players play.
"They know which way we want to play, we know which way we want to attack and defend, there are no grey areas.
"We expect the players we pick to do what they are good at, nothing more and nothing less, within a system that we have been practising all week.
"The hard bit is picking 11 but it is good to know that there are others that you can trust."
The Scotland manager's confidence in his players is in sharp contrast to former Wales midfielder Mickey Thomas, a team-mate of Strachan's at Leeds, who claimed the Scots' squad was the "worst" ever.
The former Aberdeen and Manchester United midfielder had a jibe back at Thomas, alluding to the Welshman's involvement in a counterfeit currency scam which landed him in jail.
"I played with Mickey and it is a bold statement," said Strachan.
"To validate that you would need to be about 150 years old and I know Mickey is looking a bit old, but not 150 years old.2
Strachan joked: "In saying that, he is liable to have a passport that says 150 years on it...
"Mickey is always good fun whenever you meet him so I take it with a pinch of salt.
"But he has definitely livened up the Scottish media for the last day or so."
Strachan laughed when asked if he would be using Thomas' comments as a motivational tool.
"Not at all," he said. "I wouldn't like to think what anybody else said would increase the motivation and purpose in how we are going to play.
"If so, we bring someone in to crack a funny every week."
Much of the focus from the Scottish media's point of view this week has been on Gareth Bale, not only because he scored both goals against Scotland in Cardiff.
Strachan acknowledged Bale was a "top player" but skirted round the tactics he will deploy to take care of that particular threat.
"From the first day I was in management, you know that no matter who you are playing against, everyone has strengths and weaknesses," he said
"We have made people aware of where there might be danger.
"The players will tell you what we have been working on is a lot to do with what is in our dressing room.
"The thing is, when the players are in the dressing room tomorrow, they know they can trust each other."
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