Three days before his teamÆs opener against Portugal, U.S. coach Bruce Arena discussed the strengths of Claudio Reyna, the tribulations of Jeff Agoos, speculation his starting lineup, and more:
Bruce Arena, U.S. coach
On whether he is close to deciding on his starters against Portugal, and on whether he will divulge the lineup: ''Yes, we are very close to finalizing our lineup. No, we will not be disclosing our lineup.'' On Claudio Reyna and his growth since the 1998 World Cup: ''Claudio has grown considerably since 1998. The move from Leverkusen [and Wolfsburg] to Rangers was good for him, and he played with a number of outstanding players in Glasgow, which helped him develop further as a player. 'He has shown his versatility as well, where he has played in a number of positions in the last three years of his professional career. One area where he is clearly now an outstanding player is on the defensive end of the field. ''He positions himself well, he is good in the tackle and he is very responsible on the defensive side of the ball. Obviously, the other way he is a good player in helping us keep position, he is good passer and he helps settle our team down. ''And he demonstrated in the last couple of weeks in our last few friendlies that he is a good attacking player, as well, so he has grown considerably. He is a well-rounded player now and I think he will show in this World Cup that he is a very good player.'' On Jeff Agoos and his past World Cup disappointments: ''I canÆt comment on his personal issues with the past. As you know, Jeff was part of the roster in 1998 and didnÆt play, and he was perhaps the last player cut in 1994. So it has been difficult for him, but he has had unbelievable longevity with the national team program and has 130 caps to date. ''He has played quite well in his career with the national team and his greatest quality that he brings to our team has been his consistency. I think wherever we have played him, he has been consistent throughout the years. I think that has also been one of his qualities in MLS, with every team he has been with he has been very steady. He generally brings a lot of quality to the field and certainly some experience as well, with our group. So I am hopeful that this is a good World Cup for Jeff.'' On how the U.S. is preparing for Luis Figo and his potential absence through injury: ''We would expect Figo to be in the lineup. The problem you have with Portugal is that the concern isnÆt only Figo. The concern is also Pauleto, Sergio Conceicao, Joao Pinto, [Nuno] Gomes, so there are a number of players. If we just focus on Figo, there will be other players that are dangerous and can hurt us.'' On some of the media reports about a new U.S. lineup taking the field against Portugal: ''All the players that we have under consideration to start have been playing for us. I donÆt know how you would arrive at a starting lineup, since you havenÆt seen one this year. So I donÆt know how you would assume what our starting lineup is, since we have never really had our team together. This is probably the first time. I guess whatever lineup we have on the field on Wednesday will be a new lineup.'' On whether he has told his players to forget about the 1998 World Cup experience: ''Yeah, about four years ago. We really havenÆt dwelled on it here, or for a while. I mean that is something that is clearly in the past, and we are just looking forward to 2002.'' On the tournamentÆs first full day of action (June 1, 2002) and if he saw anything that excited him, intrigued him, interested him, etc.: ''I donÆt think the Germany game intrigued me very much. I expected Germany to win, but not to that degree. Uruguay-Denmark was not surprising, but I think Ireland played a little bit better than I thought they would and they were perhaps unlucky to not win that game. It shows again that anything can happen in these games. Certainly no one expected Germany to lose, but we didnÆt expect them to win that easily. And the other games were what you would expect.'' On whether the strong early showing from Africa and the large defeat of Saudi Arabia has affected how the U.S. views Asian soccer: ''In all honesty, no. I donÆt think those games reflect anything that we think of Asian football or the Korean team. We happen to know that the Korean team is an outstanding team and are going to be very difficult opponent on June 10. We didnÆt need the first few days of this competition to tell us that.'' On whether he would comment on the teamÆs desired result against Portugal: ''Sure, to draw or win, that is our goal. We would like to complete WednesdayÆs game with at least a point.''
