After the third game day of the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, the USA took a commanding lead of the Hexagonal. In other games, Mexico tied, 1-1, in Trinidad & Tobago and Honduras tied, 1-1, in Jamaica. The USA is on top of the standings with 9 points, followed by Costa Rica (4), Mexico (4), Jamaica (4), Honduras (2) and Trinidad & Tobago (1). HereÆs what U.S. players had to say after their victory: CLINT MATHIS, forward ON HOW THE USA IS DOING WITH NINE POINTS: ôThere are still seven games — that is 21 points you have to win — If a team wins seven of the rest of their teams, that is a big jump. And if you look at the teams behind us Costa Rica at 4 … and Jamaica and Honduras, the points will add up. WeÆve got to keep going in and trying to get as many points as we can to get as close as we can to get to that magic number. With 30 being the most points you can win. If we get 30 points we are definitely going to go to the World Cup. You want to get as close to that as we can, and so far we are doing pretty well.ö ON THE LONE U.S. GOAL: “I don’t think it hit my hand. I don’t remember it. Any time the ball is in the box you do whatever you can to fight for it and get a touch on it and anything can happen. The ball just happened to bounce in our favor right to Josh [Wolff], and he did well to tuck it away.” ON LATE GAME HEROICS IN TWO CONSECUTIVE GAMES: “I think it shows a lot of character for our team to be able to withstand their attacking with [Paulo] Wanchope and [Hernan] Medford. I think our defense has really been the key in the first three games, keeping them at zeros and only allowing one at Honduras. ôThey have really done well, and we have been able to get some good attacks and have been able to get some fortunate goals. It has been working out well for us and I think it shows a lot of character in our team, the way we are and the way we keep fighting until we get a goal.” JOSH WOLFF, forward ON THE LONE U.S. GOAL: “I think Clint and I played pretty well together, and anytime the ball gets whipped in and it is not coming to you, as a forward you are going to try and get in a good spot, and he went up hard and aggressive and nodded it down. And as a forward you have to be in the right spot.” ON WHETHER HE SAW ANTE RAZOV PREPARING TO REPLACE HIM JUST PRIOR TO THE GOAL: “Absolutely. I saw him running down the path. You see a forward, and obviously I had a feeling I would be coming off, but in the end I think our team played very well and we created a lot of chances. That is something to be very positive about, and optimistic going into the next game.” ON THE COMPETITION: ôThis is a game where there are certainly going to be a lot of chances. They cleared our chance in the first half. I would have liked that one to go in, but we fought hard and I think in the beginning of the second half we really pressed trying to get that goal and we came in saying it was going to be a one-goal game, and I think it was just another example of qualifier game, which was tight. You are not going to get as many clean opportunities, so when you get a half chance, you take it. In the end we got a good goal.” ON WHETHER THE TEAM REALLY EXPECTED TO BE 3-0, WITH NINE POINTS AT THIS POINT: “If you looked at it and predicted it, No. You look to win your games at home and tie on the road, and fortunately Clint had a beautiful free kick down in Honduras and got us three points, and when we’re at home anytime we come out on the field we expect to get three points, and anything less will obviously be a loss of some points. To say that we’ve been trying to get nine points from three games, yes, but in a conservative manner.” JEFF AGOOS, defender ON THE TEAM’S START: “We are very happy with the first three games, but there are still seven more to go, and we haven’t qualified yet. Until we’re qualified, we won’t be happy.” STEVE CHERUNDOLO, defender ON HIS ROLE IN THE GAME: “I wasn’t supposed to go forward as much as I’d like or could. Basically it was concentrate on [Hernan] Medford first and then if I have the time and the opportunity to go forward. I think it worked out well. We got the win, and that is all that matters.” KASEY KELLER, goalkeeper ON THE WIN: “I was happy with the whole game and the way everyone played. We got the win, and that’s the most important thing regardless of how you play. I didn’t have a whole lot to do. I thought the team played extremely well in front of me and they have been for several games. If I can just be back there and clean up a few things, that is exactly what I hope to do.” ON THE TEAM’S DEFENSIVE STANDARD: “The team has been great, and we’ve had the same defense now for three games in-a-row, which is something we didn’t have during the first round of qualifying. It really looks like we are starting to gel together. It’s not as if none of us have played together with everybody individually, it is just nice that everyone is beginning to play a little bit more together. Today was the best we’ve played in all of qualifying all over the park. It would have been nice to stick a few more goals in, but three points is three points.”