'The will to win is back,' says Tevez

Carlos Tevez and Chris Iwelumo operate on different plains for club and country but both insisted yesterday they would take positives from Wednesday's friendly between Argentina and Scotland at Hampden, which ended in a 1-0 win for the visitors in Diego Maradona's first game in charge as manager.

Tevez, worth £30m-plus, believes Maradona can now inspire his country to equivalent heights on the international stage. "A new era has begun and the team have started in the direction we want to go to make history," the Manchester United forward said. "We only trained on Monday and Tuesday. It's not much, but these days were very useful to raise the mood of the guys. The will to win was back thanks to Diego. I am very happy with Diego's debut as coach. He can do very special things for us, and give us confidence."

Iwelumo, a journeyman who has never commanded as much as a six-figure transfer fee at any of his 11 clubs over 12 years, has been prolific for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Championship since his summer signing but has endured a disappointing first two Scotland caps. He infamously missed a sitter against Norway last month and was then substituted at half-time on Wednesday with a hamstring strain.

Yet the 30-year-old says George Burley has placed faith in him that he is determined to justify, and that Scotland can be proud of their performance against a star-studded Argentina. He added that it was good preparation for Scotland's next match, a tough World Cup qualifier in Amsterdam in March.

"Argentina got the early goal and you get a wee bit worried, but we stood up well and I thought the boys at the back were fantastic," he said. "The whole point of the game was to prepare us for the Holland match, who move the ball around very similarly. And I think we can take positives."

The Dutch will be Scotland's last top-rank opposition for a while after the Scottish Football Association's chief executive Gordon Smith said a "disappointing" attendance of 32,492 on Wednesday has dampened his enthusiasm for bringing Brazil to Hampden for a friendly.