After giving the players Friday off, the USA was back at practice on Saturday, which marked Kasey KellerÆs first full day of practice since hurting his elbow on Wednesday. After training, Coach Bruce Arena, defenders Gregg Berhalter and Jeff Agoos, and midfielder Claudio Reyna met the press.
Bruce Arena, U.S. coach
On SenegalÆs upset of France: ôThey took advantage of their opportunities and had a very good effort over 90 minutes. I said the other day that I think the world of soccer is shrinking. I said that there would be upsets in the first round, and I guess you would call last night an upset. I think there are all good teams in this tournament and they are all capable of winning games in the first round. That will not be the only upset we see.ö On whether the U.S. might take inspiration from the upset result: Again, I think it demonstrates that anyone can win in this tournament. We are certainly not here to play three games and go home. We are certainly going to do our share to try and stay around a bit longer.ö On Portugal as an opponent: ôThey are an outstanding team, and they have demonstrated that. They have a very high ranking in the world. They are team that is not afraid of saying, æWe think we can win this World Cup.Æ We respect the qualities of their team, and obviously they have some great attacking players and some good players in every position. ôHowever, we believe that when we step out on the field on Wednesday, we will be prepared mentally and physically to win the game.ö On the Portuguese injury situation (to Abel Xavier and Paulo Sousa) and whether the U.S. is adjusting their plans based on those injuries: ôXavier has played in only two of their last 14 matches and Sousa is not a regular.ö On the injury situation at practice today and on his view of FIFA rankings: ôTo start with, all of our players trained today, so Kasey (Keller) is fine. As for the ranking, I said the other the day that if we based everything on rankings, then there is no point in playing. ôIf I understand it correctly this time around at the World Cup, we still have to go on the field and play. And if rankings meant anything last night, then Senegal messed things up. We have the same ambition of any team here and we believe we can step on the field and be successful regardless of who we play. ôObviously, Portugal is one of the favorites here and a contender to win the World Cup. However, we believe we have a good team and will be ready to play on Wednesday.ö On what he thought of the referee in the France-Senegal game: ôI thought the referee was outstanding last night. He did a great job. There were very few issues, and very few plays you would have thought was a dive. I think the message is out to the players. There was really no time-wasting at all. So maybe the message is there and the pressure is not on the referee to follow through his orders. But I thought in the game last night the referee was outstanding.ö On a Portuguese reporters repetitious question on how the U.S. might adjust to Portugal: ôYou want to know how we are going to play against Portugal? [laughing] Well, IÆm not going to tell you.ö On the decision facing him in choosing a starting goalkeeper: ôI have been on record a lot on how I feel about the goalkeepers, and it really boils down to who we think is in the best form and who is the fittest at this time.ö
Gregg Berhalter, U.S. defender
On Portugal as an opponent: ôI think Portugal, like Bruce was saying, is very strong in the attack, and they are very good on the counterattack. They are a difficult team to play against. I think they proved in the last European championships and in (World Cup) qualifying that they are one of the top teams in Europe now. They are all looking forward to this World Cup, because it is the first time they have qualified in awhile. They are going to be a handful. I think they are definitely one of the favorites of the tournament.ö On whether the start of the World Cup has created excitement around the team: ôWe are beginning to narrow in our task a little bit more now that the World Cup has started. We certainly are excited that the games have kicked off and now it is going to go really quickly until we play. We get to see a lot of soccer between now and our game. And now is the time the team starts to get more focused and set our sites on Portugal.ö
Claudio Reyna, U.S. midfielder
On Senegal upsetting France in the tournamentÆs opening game: ôYou have to give credit to Senegal. They are not a bad team and they have a lot of great players. I was not shocked by the result perhaps the way the media was. If you look at their players, they all play in France and they were extremely motivated to play. ôAll the teams that are not favored to go to the next round or are not favored to win against the big nations, it gives you a little bit of hope, or more hope, to maybe cause a big upset. ThatÆs nice. It was good for the World Cup, maybe not for France, but for the World Cup, that Senegal won the first game, I think.ö
Jeff Agoos, U.S. Defender
On what the affect of losing the first game might be for a team: ôYou would still have two more games, but in these games there is no looking back. You have to lay it on the line. We have three Super Bowls in 10 days. That is the way you have to look at it. Every game, every minute, every play is the most important moment. And you have to be aware of that.ö On the start of the tournament: We were quite excited for the event to start and with the kickoff yesterday things are starting to get in motion. There are three games today and we are looking forward to them.ö
