STEVE SAMPSON
On the team’s arrival into Paris: “We are extremely happy to be here. Pizay [the team’s training site north of Lyon] served its purpose, and today coming off the train and being greeted by family and supporters with American flags, we are anxious to experience this World Cup. Nothing will distract us for our goal of performing well against Germany on Monday.”
On goalkeeper Kasey Keller: “I would say he is one of top 3 or 4 keepers in the world, no question. He is a player that when he says something people listen. The recent success of the U.S. national team is due in large part to Kasey Keller.”
On motivating his team: “There is no need to motivate these players for the World Cup. To have to motivate them for this [would mean] there is something wrong.”
On his starting lineup: “The starting lineup is decided. The players know [who will start] from our training sessions and I will tell them officially tomorrow.”
On soccer’s identity in the U.S.: “This stage is a wonderful opportunity for the sport of soccer to get to the grassroots and into homes of the United States where soccer might not otherwise be watched. Our identity [in the USA, as opposed to other nations] is not the U.S. national team, which maybe is better.”
MIKE BURNS
On the team’s arrival into Paris: “Since we’ve arrived it finally feels like we are at the World Cup. It’s exciting for us and we are anxious to get the game underway.”
On goalkeeper Kasey Keller: “As long as I have played with Kasey, he has always been able to make the saves when we needed it. As a defender you can’t ask for anything more. He doesn’t make mistakes. He’s calm and passes that along to the defense. He’s there anytime we need him.”
On the Germany game: “For us to have a good result against Germany all eleven guys have to work together. They have very good players [at every position], not just one or two guys who can beat you. But they’re the ones who are expected to win. The pressure is on them. We’re going to go all out and have fun and try to win. We’ll let the pressure fall on them.”
KASEY KELLER
On Germany’s offense: “I’m not too worried about it, we’ve been fortunate enough in our preparation to play some of the best teams in the world. They are very talented… but I have a lot of confidence in the guys in front of me. For us to be successful it’s going to have to start defensively, if we can keep it tight at the back we can give ourselves a good base to go from there.”
THOMAS DOOLEY
On what it will take to defeat Germany: “We’ll have to play a physical game and a great game. We have to stay right on there heals and play our game… 90 minutes or more at high speed. We are a little bit younger and that’s a big advantage.”
