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Your support makes all the difference.Craig Levein said his Scotland players had no option but to take their thrashing by the United States on the chin and ensure they show a massive improvement in their next game.
Scotland crashed to their heaviest defeat under Levein in a friendly in Florida on Saturday night. The manager now wants to see the squad back on track for the visit of Australia in August, before the 2014 World Cup qualifiers begin the following month.
Levein said: "We can analyse the game and we will do but I think 'focus' is the most important word. We weren't as focused as the USA. Our team have been excellent recently, with some great results, and it was most unlike them. We will take it on the chin and we will be much better next time."
The match was supposed to help Scotland prepare for the qualifiers, which begin with matches against Serbia and Macedonia. Asked if there were any positives he could take from the game in Jacksonville, Levein said: "I thought a couple of players performed reasonably well but that's not enough in an 11-man game."
The hosts enjoyed a blistering start with two goals in the first 11 minutes. Landon Donovan opened the scoring after three minutes, before Michael Bradley added a second. There was brief hope for Scotland when Geoff Cameron turned a Kenny Miller header into his own net, but two goals from Donovan after the break allowed him to complete his hat-trick before Jermaine Jones completed the rout.
Despite the result, Levein does not regret the end of season get-together, which he believes allowed his players another valuable opportunity to bond as a group.
He said: "We've had a good week and, OK, this is a disappointing end to the week, but it's great every time we get the lads together."
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