Scotland manager Berti Vogts insisted he was proud of his players despite seeing them hammered 6-0 by The Netherlands.
Vogts said: "I told my boys this morning, 'I'm very proud of you' and after this, again I am very proud of my players. We must learn from this style of football. That was international quality. The Dutch were great."
Vogts revealed that the dressing-room was deathly quiet after the final whistle and added: "They are thinking about the lesson and that is good."
The German was also at pains to insist that the 6-0 scoreline was simply the result of an off-day by his players on an occasion when top-quality opposition lived up to their billing.
He said: "That is the best group we have. There is only a little bit of difference between the quality of The Netherlands and us, not more."
Two of the first-half goals were headers from free-kicks and another header followed after the break from a corner.
But Vogts refused to point the finger at either goalkeeper Robert Douglas or the defenders in front of him.
He said: "I don't blame any players. You can blame me, but please don't blame my players. The quality of the two teams is different, that's all."