![]() He did say, however, there was one veteran "we could never get through to." He didn't identify him, but multiple sources said it was defender Geoff Cameron, who didn't end up playing in the last two matches after starting four of the previous six qualifiers and entering one as a sub. I don't question their character at all." We were well aware and the players were aware" of who they were.Īrena offered high praise for the commitment put forth by players such as Tim Howard, Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey. We had a couple of bad eggs, as you have on every team. It was, Arena said, "humiliating" to the Trinidadians.Īsked if his players had taken enough pride in representing the country and qualifying for the World Cup, Arena said: "We had good citizens. staff was seen carrying players across the ankle-high threshold. Soccer Federation unintentionally motivated the host team by posting photos and video of standing water on and around the stadium field the day before the match. We seemed to get ourselves settled in after that and conceded another goal, and some people cracked."Īrena also said the U.S. A lot of pressure built up, especially after we conceded the first goal. They played very well against Mexico in their previous game. One thing I pride myself on is I get teams ready to play. United States captain Michael Bradley said head coach Bruce Arena has got the Americans 'back to who we are' following Sundays entertaining World Cup qualifying draw in Mexico. The Americans were flat at the beginning and fell. A lot of players must have felt the pressure. He said he considered it, but in the wake of the convincing victory and a clean bill of health, he decided to stay with the same group and tactics. "Players that lack some quality, the pressure gets to them. – an emergency late addition for injured Cory Gibbs – signed a two-year deal with 1860 Munich."Top players respond to big games," Arena said of athletes in all sports. Keller needed just three saves to make it stand up. McBride blasted a header into the right corner that GK Aleksandrs Kolinko deflected, but couldn’t stop. McBride collided with D Deniss Ivanovs in the box and suffered a golf ball-sized welt, but got his revenge with his 30th career goal.ĭonovan – wearing the captain’s armband with Claudio Reyna injured – played a ball wide right to D Steve Cherundolo, who sent a perfect cross back into the box. They had enough quality to outplay a rusty Latvia team that hadn’t played since December. I think we have enough quality and enough confidence to be successful.” Anything I’ve seen over the past four years will be put aside. That’s the only way you can analyze any country, their performance at the World Cup, because that’s the ultimate. We’re only going to get better,” said Arena, who said his sixth-ranked team won’t be truly measured until its June 12 opener. The finishing could’ve been better, we gave up a couple of chances, but the ball movement has gotten better each game. team rebounded from Tuesday’s loss to Morocco with wins over Venezuela and Latvia, passing better and looking sharper from one game to the next. We worked hard and we’re where we want to be.”įorward Brian McBride shook off a minor head injury to score a 43rd-minute header, keeper Kasey Keller kept a clean sheet and the U.S. “I wanted to do better, but winning is what’s important. We need the rest, and we’ll be ready (in Germany),” said forward Landon Donovan. “We wanted to win all three games, wanted to do even better, but the fact is we worked hard and we’re right where we want to be. Now the only question remaining – just how good is this team? – won’t be answered by Latvia, but by the Czech Republic, Ghana and three-time World Cup champ Italy. But last night’s 1-0 victory over Latvia was a nice bonus, nonetheless.įrom tactics to lineup to formation, coach Bruce Arena had a host of things he wanted to test out in a glorified lab experiment in front of 24,636. Wins this month in Cleveland and East Hartford meant little wins next month in Germany will mean everything. soccer team, this stretch of three games in six days was more about preparation than about victory. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |