On June 4, one day before the U.S. opener against Portugal, U.S. coach Bruce Arena is still unsure about the status of his captain, Claudio Reyna

Bruce Arena, U.S. coach

On Claudio ReynaÆs injury status: ''We will see how he feels today or tomorrow. Whether you realize it or not, there are a lot of players in this tournament who are not at 100 percent coming off a difficult club season. He wonÆt be much different than any of the other players on the field. ''I think he will be able to make the kind of adjustments that are necessary. Anyone we put on the field has to be ready to play. We are not going to put a player on the field that we donÆt think can help us win. If Claudio is on the field, we certainly are going to believe he is going to help us win.'' On what makes Portugal such a tough opponent: ''That is a tough question to answer. Obviously the one area that stands out about Portugal is their great attacking quality, and the combination of players. It is not just one player or two players, but a combination of Figo, Conceicao, Pauleta and perhaps Pinto and Rui Costa at the same time. ''So those are four or five players you need to be cognitive of all the time, and that makes them a very formidable group of players to go against.'' On whether he might think the Portugal defense is a weakness, in light of the attention the teamÆs offense receives: ''No, I donÆt. But when you score as many goals as they do, and keep possession of the ball the way they are capable of keeping it, that takes a lot of pressure away from their defense. So therefore, that has not been a demonstrated strength of the Portuguese team because it hasnÆt really been necessary, but obviously they have a quality center back in Rui Costa, without a doubt. ''They are a good team in every aspect. They played in a group with Ireland and Holland, so I would anticipate that they will be pretty good on defense, as well.'' On how the U.S. will confront the Portuguese offense: ''Obviously we are well aware of their strengths in that part of the field and are conscience of their individual players and have pointed that out to our team. What we do tomorrow is not going to be radically different from what weÆve done in the past.'' On if he is comfortable the U.S. will have a solution for Portugal: ''We will find out. But it is not me that needs the solution, it is the 11 players on the field. And weÆll find out tomorrow.'' On the U.S. having difficulty with European opponents: ''Do you remember anyone beating Italy in Italy lately? Anyone beat Germany in Germany lately? Argentina. Italy did OK in their first game, Germany did OK, Ireland did all right. We probably would have hard time playing Argentina in Argentina, as well. We played well, and that is why we play those games.'' On reports of players in the starting lineup from ESPN: I donÆt know how they would know that. No comment.'' On how he thinks security will be at the U.S. games: ''IÆve been at one game and I thought everything went well. I would anticipate that security will be outstanding for our games. Everything that IÆve seen with security in Korea has been excellent.'' On whether he has an inspirational speech planned for the team prior to the game against Portugal: I donÆt think you need to give the team a whole lot of inspiration in their opening match of group play in a World Cup. If that is the case, then we are in a whole lot of trouble.ö On ArenaÆs comments criticizing Clint Mathis and his fitness and work habits: ''I think that first of all, if that is what came across in that article, it is wrong. Clint has worked very hard with us the last 30 days. He has done a very good job to try and get himself in form for the World Cup and he is going to position himself to help us at some point.'' On what will constitute a success for the U.S.: ''Again, you need to have group play completed before you can really make any commentary on how we played. It is conceivable that you can play quite well and not advance. And that would still be a positive. ''However, our motivation is to advance to the second round. We will let that area be up to you people to make the judgments on whether we are successful.''