Stephen Halliday: Levein’s optimistic spin is shown up by US debacle

IF SCOTLAND’S crushing weekend defeat in Florida serves any useful purpose, it is perhaps to bring a clearer sense of perspective to those who bought into the ludicrously positive spin which Craig Levein and his cheerleaders applied to the dismal Euro 2012 qualification campaign.

The notion that Scotland have made significant progress since Levein replaced George Burley as manager two-and-a-half years ago was based on a series of eight competitive fixtures which yielded just three victories – two of them against Liechtenstein and the other at home to Lithuania.

It earned Levein a level of credit disproportionate to the often virulent condemnation of Burley who also achieved three victories from eight games – two against Iceland and one at home to Macedonia – in the failed 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Unlike Burley, jettisoned by the SFA following an abject 3-0 friendly defeat in Wales in November 2009, Levein will not pay the ultimate price for overseeing the comprehensive drubbing suffered by the Scots in Jacksonville.

But at the very least, the heaviest loss of his tenure so far will muffle the optimistic noises many have been prepared to make about Scotland’s prospects of success under Levein in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

Losing to the United States, 19 places above Scotland in the Fifa world rankings, is not in itself a source of surprise or embarrassment. The manner of the defeat, however, is both alarming and unacceptable.

For Levein to bemoan a “lack of focus” among his players is perhaps the most startling element of one of the most ignominious results in Scotland’s recent international history. If they were not sufficiently motivated or mentally prepared after a full week’s preparation, then the manager is most accountable for those shortcomings.

When he originally named his squad for the trip to Florida, Levein outlined what seemed to many of us an over-reaching ambition to establish a pool of around 40 Scotland players all capable of performing effectively at international level.

He may now be better served by realigning his focus and simply attending to the basic requirement of an international manager, which is to make best use of the resources available to him at any given time.

Levein was without several players he would regard as first picks at the weekend, including Darren Fletcher, James Morrison and Charlie Adam. But USA coach Jurgen Klinsmann also had to compensate for the loss of key men, such as Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, so it is even less a mitigating factor for Scotland than the 82 deg