CRAIG LEVEIN has played down the significance of Scotland's 5-1 defeat by the United States on Saturday and maintained the trip was a worthwhile exercise despite such a humbling scoreline.

The Scotland manager and his squad spent last week in Florida before completing their stay with the match against Juergen Klinsmann's side in Jacksonville.

Landon Donovan's hat trick – he is now his country's most prolific goalscorer, with 49 goals – was added to by strikes from Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones and an own goal by Geoff Cameron, the United States defender. The hosts were able to cruise to an emphatic win over a Scotland side that included Andy Webster, Shaun Maloney and debutant Matt Phillips.

Levein's side rarely posed a threat inside EverBank Field but, while the Scotland manager did not make excuses for a listless performance, he did not believe the result will have a dramatic impact on the national side's efforts to reach the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Scotland play Australia on August 15, before the qualifiers start with a home double-header against Serbia on September 8 and Macedonia three days later.

"We've had a good week. This is a disappointing end but it is great whenever we get the lads together," Levein said. "They are extremely disappointed as you can imagine, but we had a lot of boys missing and this was an opportunity for others to come in. I said this was going to be an extremely tough game against a side well above us in the rankings. Football is about highs and lows, and we will take it on the chin.

"It was evident that there was one team out there that was focused and ready to take the game and another that had finished the season and had nothing to play for. But I have got to recognise that the USA played very well; they started quickly and before we knew it we were two goals down. We didn't give ourselves a chance in the match."

Despite kicking off at 8pm local time, the Scots were still required to play in an unfamiliar heat. However, Levein was not inclined to use the conditions to explain a lacklustre performance from his side – instead accepting that the fixture had fallen at the end of another hard campaign for his players.

"I think we can analyse the game, and we will do, but the focus is the most important thing and we weren't focused enough. At half-time we probably should have been more behind to be honest, and again in the second half we lost an early goal," he said.

"Being the end of the season the players felt that they were tired. I have been here before as a coach and it happens sometimes. My team have been excellent recently with some great results and that was most unlike them. We will be much better next time out. I thought a couple of players performed reasonably well. But that is not enough as we still lost the game."