GEORGE Burley believes the lessons learned by his Scotland players in defeat to Argentina last night can be put to positive use when their World Cup qualifying campaign resumes with a trip to the Netherlands in March.
Despite the 1-0 loss to Diego Maradona's side, Burley took encouragement from his team's reaction to the eighth minute goal scored by Maxi Rodriguez which had seemed to threaten a rout.
While he has now won just one of his seven games as Scotland
manager, Burley remained upbeat about the progress he feels is being made and is confident his squad can take something from the fixture in Amsterdam.
"That was a great work out for us," said Burley. "We were playing one of the best teams in the world who have a host of top quality players. Argentina totally dominated the first 20 minutes.
"In terms of movement, their strikers were very clever and gave us loads of problems. We were too deep and our midfield were not in a position to close them down.
"After that, though, we got to grips with the game. We got higher up the pitch and gave them a few problems. It was a cracking game and we held our own after that.
"It was very worthwhile with a view to the game against Holland. Every game's different. Argentina's style is different from Holland but what they are is a top-class side, same as Holland. They are another top 10 side and it is great to pit your wits against the best. We will go into the Holland game in a good mood because of tonight.
"The players learned not to get pushed back so far by a top side and we will take that into the Holland game. Our players were pushed to the limit tonight and held their own. It was a big challenge for us but we came out of it with a lot of credit."
Burley singled out Derby County winger Kris Commons, who caught the eye on his fourth appearance for Scotland, for praise and found several other reasons for satisfaction. "I thought Kris was our best player on the night," he said.
"It is great to have an old fashioned winger.
"He was playing against some excellent defenders and caused them problems.
"There were plenty of bonuses for us tonight. It was great to get our captain Barry Ferguson back after so long and the same applies to Alan Hutton who did well.
" I also thought Allan McGregor did exceptionally well in goal for us in his first full 90 minutes for Scotland.
"We were also able to give Scott Robertson his debut in the second half and there was more experience for lads like Christophe Berra and Lee Miller who also came on."
Burley is hopeful his players will take the same kind of inspiration from facing Argentina as he did from facing them back in 1979 when Maradona scored his first goal for his country in a 3-1 friendly win at Hampden.
"That experience stays with me, even 29 years later, and I'm sure our lads would really have enjoyed playing against the likes of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano," he added.
"I spoke to Diego before the game tonight. He doesn't speak much English but I was able to tell him I was the No 2 for Scotland that day when he scored his goal here.
"I also played against Johann Cruyff during my career, but Maradona was the best I ever played against.
"He was absolutely tremendous. It was great to see him against tonight and he now has a great opportunity ahead of him in managing his country."
The full article contains 627 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
