Postgame quotes from the 1-1 tie between the USA-Tunisia friendly in Birmingham, Ala. U.S. coach BRUCE ARENA On the match: “Late in the game, before we scored the goal, I turned to my assistant coach (Dave Sarachan) and said I was very happy some of the things we had done in the game. We can take some good things out of the game. We knew what to expect from Tunisia and we knew this game was going to be ‘1-0’ type game. They’re a team that is very organized in the back and they pick their spots to counterattack. Which is what they did, and how they got their goal.” “Their goalkeeper came up with a number of good saves, and we created a number of chances through Brian McBride and Jason Kreis. I liked the way that John O’Brien combined with Chris Armas, and Eddie Lewis was good again today.” On DaMarcus Beasley not getting in the match: “We had planned to use DaMarcus in the match, possibly as a forward, and if the game had been tied at the end, he would have played. But with us down 1-0, that is not the kind of situation to put a young player into. We knew at the end we would be attacking from the flanks with a lot of crosses into the box, so the timing wasn’t right to put him in. With young players like DaMarcus you need to put them in the right situations to succeed and today wasn’t the right time. But DaMarcus was very good all week in training and he is going to be a very special player.” On the pro-American crowd in Alabama: “It has been a longtime since we’ve played in front of totally pro-American crowd like this one. The atmosphere was very good … 21,000 is a great crowd for a market this size. It is important for us to continue to develop markets like this for our teams.” Midfielder JOHN O’BRIEN On Ben Olsen’s goal, which after O’Brien’s shot was deflected: “I saw that the ball was rolling over to Ben and I saw a big smile coming up on his face, so I knew that ball was going in the net.” On the fact that Tunisia’s only shot on goal of the game was a goal: “That’s the way it goes sometimes in soccer. But we played much better in the second half, than we did in the first. We moved the ball around much better, and our player moved around much better. We deserved the result.” Midfielder BEN OLSEN On his third international goal: “I was just sitting there hoping the ball would come to me … and then here it comes rolling up perfectly. This was an important goal for me. It was important for me to show well today and to show Bruce that I am still in it and can compete for a spot. I wasn’t feeling pressure, but when I don’t play well I am honest with myself about it, and I recognized that I needed to get back on the ball.”