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

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 degree heat in which they wilted so tamely.

His approval rating among the Tartan Army having sustained a major dent with this result, Levein will be under increased pressure to get off to a flying start when the World Cup Group A qualifying campaign kicks off in September. Before then, Scotland have one more friendly, against Australia at Easter Road in August, to try and build some semblance of positive momentum.

The opening World Cup double header, with Hampden fixtures against Serbia and Macedonia on 8 and 11 September, surely holds the key to any realistic prospect Levein has of success in a section which also includes Croatia, Belgium and Wales.

The Serbs also suffered defeat at the weekend, although their 2-0 reversal at the hands of world champions Spain was regarded as a decent enough start to the reign of their new manager Sinisa Mihajlovic. A long-time confidante and former assistant coach to Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini when they were at Inter Milan, Mihajlovic is likely to bring a freshness to the Serbian side which could be at its peak when they meet the Scots in Glasgow.

Levein has much to ponder over a short close season which will yet again see Scotland on the outside looking in as the drama of a major tournament finals unfolds in Poland and Ukraine. After Saturday night’s debacle in America, there will be far fewer people willing to predict tartan-bedecked punters celebrating the end of the exile on the Copacabana beach in two years’ time.