Were there any positives from the performance in Portugal?

Scotland were two goals down to the Portuguese inside 20 minutes, with Rab Douglas already having saved a Luis Figo penalty.

In atrocious conditions, the Scots were never at the races and must have been relieved to see Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Pauleta depart well before full time.

Vogts insisted afterwards that he was pleased with what he saw as further progress made by his fledgling team.

But is he kidding himself? And what did you make of Scotland's performance?

This debate is now closed. A selection of your emails appears below.

I think we are far too quick to criticise Berti. OK, 11 games and it might seem a lot, but one of the reasons sides become successful is that they do play together and they play quality opposition. Keep on doing more of the same I say...
John, Scotland

Vogts is like a vineyard master - he has to make the best wine he can with the grapes that are available to him. Scotland have a so-so squad of players most of whom are not even on the most-wanted list of either Celtic or Rangers. With all this in mind Scotland at least looked organised and disciplined on the night. The idea that anyone else is going to do a hell of a lot better is pure folly.
Peter Hayes, England

Can someone explain to me why Scotland were happy to settle for a 2-0 defeat? Where was the pride? Disgraceful.
Joe Fagan, England

Scotland's game against Portugal was disappointing and largely confirmed my view: Scotland do not have the stuff to make themselves threatening to other teams. Portugal lacked motivation and took it easy. Scotland, on the other hand, were desperately struggling and still couldn't cause any panic. There is much less comfort than you think, Berti!
Hiro Ishiwata, Japan

I watched the game against Portugal and I must admit the conditions were awful but from what I saw from Scotland was quite surprising namely team grit. Portugal are extremely good but I think Scotland will be a very good side by the next World cup. In fact everyone seems to think they will finish second in their group for Euro 2004 but I can't see any reason why finishing first is an impossible feat.
Andrew, England

The Scottish media stood by for years watching Craig Brown flounder out of his depth. Berti Vogts seems to have ruffled the media's feathers and now they have drawn their knives and want to see his blood. "Scotland be damned; get Berti!" seems to be their objective. In my opinion, if given the chance he will make them eat their words.
J. Watson, Canada

I liked how Berti set out to test the defensive capability of the team as a unit. This should prove valuable if we nick a goal against Germany in any our games.

After this game I would like to see the balance of the side restored to that against Iceland however, we need someone with more pace in attack for the final 25 minutes of the game. Burchill or Kenny Miller could offer this.

In midfield I am also drawn to having Lambert and Ferguson partnered by Stephen Hughes, the lad had a great game for the under 21's and has not faded like many other young Scots midfielders have with the Old Firm (Chalie Miller and Simon Donnelly to name two).
Martin, UK, Australia

We have a serious lack of inventive midfielders, playing Naysmith and Dailly in midfield is a joke. Why wasn't Devlin playing from the start after his second half against Canada?
Graham Lees, Scotland

Every so often we will need to dip our toe in the big pool of world football and see if it gets bitten off. However the real issue at the moment is overcoming the likes of Iceland and Lithuania and reaching the play-offs.

Once that is achieved we can think about beating the Portugal's of this world.
Richard, Scotland

In the first 20 minutes, I laughed like hell at the farce I saw before me. This was not a test or even a game, as the conditions prevented both teams from playing at their best - thankfully for Scotland.

A couple of players that didn't seem fazed by the whole thing were Crawford and Devlin. When Devlin came on, as soon as he got the ball he looked to take the Portuguese on - and we need much more of this.

However, it wasn't a bad display, and as mentioned in the comments below the experience will be invaluable.
Iain, Scotland

I am more relieved by the result than anything. There was never going to be some miracle win against a superior footballing team. If we had been given a hammering it may well have dented the younger players' confidence, and undone all the good work in the last couple of months.

Berti is doing all the right things. Since Berti has arrived we have played 10 or 11 games - only two of which being competitive - all in less than a year. The only way to make a real team is to play together as often as possible. With time we will have a team to be proud of - keep it up Berti.
Bill, Germany

I think Vogts is doing the right thing. He has to be given time and support from the media - and especially the fans. I would like to see a full strength team with Matteo, Ferguson et al, then we can really have a look at the team's potential.
Barry, England

Portugal's ranking of 11 is misleading due to a poor performance at the World Cup. Whilst this was technically a "friendly", Portugal as hosts have no qualifying games and were therefore taking it very seriously.

This is a young Scottish team built from nothing; there were many good things on show. It's ridiculous to criticise players for inexperience, this match was to give them experience. The important thing to me is that Scotland are now an improving team - these guys can play together for years and will only get better.
Dave, Scotland

I agree with Berti - it was a promising result for us. I feel that we have turned the corner. Bring on England.
Jim Robertson, Scotland

Berti Vogts insists on filling out the first 11 with defensive-minded players. As a result, we find ourselves struggling to create chances and inviting the opposition to set up camp in our half.

It's about time he picked a more attack-minded midfield. Also, with Mark Burchill back in the goals, what must he be thinking when Kyle and Dobie are in front of him?
Scott Thomson, Scotland

First and foremost, not a good result. Conditions were appalling, and missing Ferguson, Matteo et al didn't help. However, these youngsters need this experience, and that in itself is useful - they held Portugal scoreless for 73 minutes.

Baby steps is all we can make right now, and tonight definitely saw us take a couple of those. Although I would have liked to have seen Murray in the side, I am fairly satisfied.

Both goals could and should have been avoided, Ross's inexperience really cost us the second. Also, we need more of an attacking threat to support the strikers, Dobie and Crawford seemed lost.

Otherwise, OK, bad result, but again this is a world-class side they played, away from home in atrocious conditions, and though excuses are much hackneyed, Scotland need experience right now, and the best way to get them prior to qualifiers is testing friendlies.

So let's please keep testing our youngsters in tough conditions, one day they will get it right, and that in turn will inspire confidence. Our main rivals got beat 3-1 at home by the Dutch, hardly an glowing performance to harrow us.
Jesse, USA

Difficult game to judge the Scots' performance on due to the conditions. No doubt though that Portugal are a quality act and they handled the conditions far better.

The timing was far from being ideally suited for an international friendly against a team like the Portuguese as the good work done by Vogts in beating Iceland and Canada could have easily been undone by a heavy defeat.
Gary, Scotland