SoccerAmerica.com talked with U.S. coach Bruce Arena after he had a week to digest his teamÆs 2-1 win in Honduras. INTERVIEW BY MIKE WOITALLA SOCCER AMERICA: Have you seen a tape of the game yet? BRUCE ARENA: What game? SA: Honduras-USA. BA: IÆve watched the first half, so far. SA: Have your impressions of the game changed at all — having had some more time to digest the win? BA: It was a game where we went in to get a point on the road. We said if we can hold that position at halftime and put ourselves into position to win, letÆs go for it. We were fortunate to get the second goal on the free kick. But by no means did we play well on the attacking end of the field. Our back four played very well. It was tough for our forwards. We were playing the counterattack. To be honest, we didnÆt create many chances. We were just going to sit back, stay in the game and look to get chances off of restarts and counters. But we did what we had to do on the road. SA: It looked to me like most of your attacking actually came when Honduras was going for the win late in the game … BA: We picked our spots. That was our plan. Sit back and pick spots. SA: How much of your defenseÆs success was planned? BA: WeÆre playing out of a 4-4-2 and theyÆre playing a 3-5-2. We simply pulled our outside midfielders in. SA: Right after Earnie StewartÆs goal, Honduras appealed for a penalty kick. To me it looked like Milton NunezÆs volley hit an American in the arm. But it was never replayed, because they were showing replays of StewartÆs goal. Did you see it? BA: There was no intential hand ball in that game. One big play was [Brad] FriedelÆs big save in the first half. FRIEDEL vs. KELLER SA: Speaking of goalkeepers: Is choosing between Friedel and Kasey Keller going to be a game-to-game decision? BA: There are a lot of issues that go into making that decision. The bottom line is whoever we pick weÆre not going to go wrong. SA: It must be terribly hard on those two. TheyÆve spent most of their national team careers having to battle for a starting spot. CouldnÆt this become a problem? BA: Who knows? I think Kasey handled himself very well in the last camp. He was being a real professional and I know if he gets the call heÆs going to help us win. SA: Judging from how well the team has coped with changing lineups due to injuries, it looks like you can be pretty satisfied with your player pool … BA: It would be nice to get some kind of continuity at some point. But who knows if thatÆs ever going to happen. This has been a long run where we havenÆt had that happen. But whatta you gonna do? IÆm pleased with the effort of the guys. Their belief in each other has made the difference. SA: If everyone is healthy at one time, will you have a problem maintaining good team chemistry? BA: ThatÆs a bridge weÆll cross when we get to it, if we get to it. I hope it comes to that point. ThatÆs a positive. SA: Not if unhappy bench players disturb team chemistry … BA: The strength of our team is there are so many guys who are just concerned with the success of the team. They have a good attitude. TheyÆre a good group. TheyÆve always been like that. SA: Can we get any insight on your on plans for the your April 25 game against Costa Rica in Kansas City? BA: ItÆs too early to talk about player selection. SA: What about strategy? BA: Our strategy will be to get three points. RESULTS ABOVE ALL SA: How often have you seen your team, in qualifying, play the style of soccer that you consider ideal? BA: Not often. You got to remember … DonÆt take this wrong. I donÆt want to want to be critical of my good friend [Soccer America Magazine columnist] Paul Gardner, but if you want to look at qualifying games and have an aesthetic view of it, and think itÆs going to be beautiful and pretty, and thatÆs what you expect, at the end of the day, youÆre crazy. TheyÆre battles. They could care less how good the soccer is. They care about the results. ThatÆs what itÆs about at this point. You need to get a team out there that gets results. EditorÆs note: The final question came from a separate interview that took place in Honduras.