Bruce Arena Cup Quotations

Obviously we look forward to the game on Saturday for a couple of reasons. Mexico is certainly and arguably our biggest rival in CONCACAF and that always makes for a good game. More importantly, any kind of positive result for the U.S. qualifies us for the next World Cup and that's been our objective since June of 2004.

Obviously we look forward to the game for a couple of reasons. Mexico is certainly and arguably our biggest rival in CONCACAF and that always makes for a good game. More importantly, any kind of positive result for the U.S. qualifies us for the next World Cup and that's been our objective since June of 2004. We obviously look forward to the game. We love playing in Columbus. We anticipate a great crowd, and one that's very supportive of the U.S. team. I'm confident we're going to field a strong team and play well.

In my opinion it's going to be the best World Cup in history for a lot of reasons. It's in Europe, which tends to bring in all the best teams.

Clint continues to build a solid argument to make the World Cup team. He's certainly making it difficult for me to make some tough decisions.

For the first time ever, we are going to demand players have the discipline and commitment to actually maintain fitness. We have seen a wide range of attitudes and actual physical conditions with MLS players in the past, and if that is the case next time around they're not going to be eligible to make the World Cup roster.

Over the next month or so we'll really see the value the Gold Cup had for us. Because of injuries and suspensions, a few guys had to play a bit more than we anticipated, and that can only make our squad deeper in the long run.

Over the past week he's finally physically and psychologically recovered from his turf toe injury. That has been an obstacle for Eddie for a good six months or so, and that's completely past him. ... I think over the next couple of months Eddie should be back in full form and be a player who's challenging certainly for a spot on the World Cup roster.

We are a little more experienced, we have a little more depth, and possibly a better team than in 2002. The challenge will be very difficult again. The World Cup will only tell us what type of team we have.

I thought he's had a tough go at it. But I think you see today he's a player with a really great upside. We're going to move him around as best we can and put him in a position to make the World Cup roster.

We've got a bunch of guys in Europe as well as in MLS who want these opportunities to show that they belong on our next World Cup team. So we're going to put a pretty good team on the field for the next three games.

We have probably an additional three, four, five players that we that could have chosen. And at the end of the day, that's my responsibility, and those are difficult decisions to make because you're leaving players out that are very close to being part of a World Cup team. I feel for those players.

We've seen great improvement out of Clint this year. He's a player who is competing for a spot on the World Cup roster and I think he demonstrated he's progressed a lot.

The Guatemala game will provide us with another good opponent as we continue to prepare and evaluate players for the 2006 World Cup roster.

The Gold Cup is the biggest headache on the schedule. We want to be respectful of the confederation championship and put our best team out there and try to win it. However, our focus has to be on World Cup qualifying. Those 10 games are the most important.

Although we will be playing with a less than full roster, this game will provide an outstanding opportunity for some of our players to show they deserve strong consideration for the World Cup roster.

With the World Cup taking place in Europe, scheduling matches has been extremely difficult this time around. However, I think the opposition we will be facing will give us the right type of competition we need as we move forward with our preparations for Germany.

We see in Eddie a player with great potential, and certainly the injury put him back. He acquired a reputation that people expected a lot out of him, and I'm not copping out of that. We do expect a lot of Eddie, but at the same time he's a young player and he's getting there. His best soccer is probably for the next World Cup in all honestly. He's got a bright future, and we're hopeful he's moving forward.

You don't win too many games on the road in World Cup qualifying. We finished this round without losing a game on the road, so I think that's a big plus for our team.

I think you can't overreact from one game, the Norway game, and ignore the Canada game. You judge players over time, not over a game. As he continues to move forward we'll have a better feel for the direction he's headed. Obviously, he's getting better. From my perspective, I need to see if he's developing into a guy who should be a player on the World Cup roster and can help us win a game.

I think anyone who follows the U.S. team knows we're just getting better and better. Obviously the World Cup will tell. That will be the stage where the world decides where we are.

I don't think too many players played themselves onto our World Cup roster tonight, to be honest with you.

I don't think too many players played themselves onto a World Cup roster tonight. There were some good performances for some, others were not so good.

I don't think too many players played themselves on our World Cup roster tonight. There were some solid performances, but nothing that would make a strong case for a variety of players. It was okay for some players, others not too good.

The match in Cary is our last game before we make our final decisions on the World Cup roster, so it is obviously an important one for us.