Ben Olsen Quotations

My girlfriend's a high school teacher and she told me it's just like a 16-year-old, ... She deals with them every day. They say things and they spout off and then they get punished and they learn lessons or they don't learn lessons. He got punished and now we move on.

I bet a lot of people didn't think I would be back on the national team.

He's dealt with a lot. To see him smile again after seeing him score a goal is a special moment.

He's dealt with a lot in the last year and a half. Just seeing him score a goal was a special moment.

It always feels good to score the first one -- even though it took me nine months to get it, ... We just screwed up on the goal we gave up. Besides that, it was good soccer. We kept playing well and today, finally, we buried a team. That's what we have been missing. Once we had the lead, the question was, could we get that third goal, could we get that fourth goal? We did it.

I think we're benefiting from having this team together for a couple of years now. Having a lot of those guys back, especially early, when other teams are still finding themselves, it's a thrill. We'll see what coach wants to do. We're a heavy offensive team.

Landon (Donovan) did a great job realizing they (Jamaica) were a little unorganized.

I tell myself I'm going to give it one good run and make sure I don't regret anything.

I think he had to grow up pretty quick. He hasn't gotten too many breaks. No one gave him anything once he came into the league. He's had to earn what he has now. I think he's doing a great job. I think he's on course. Keep in mind he's 16 years old. He needs time to develop.

I think, fortunately, some of the mania has died down for him. That can help all parties. It takes a little of the pressure off him. The expectations coming in for him were unrealistic. The people who don't have any knowledge about soccer thought he'd come in and score 15 goals a season and be the best player in the league. It doesn't happen like that. It's a process.

That was a very special goal and probably one of the biggest goals I've ever scored. Whether that's my last game in a while with the national team is up in the air.

You look at their lineup and it's a whole different team. It's a team you know you have to respect.

The realization right now is that we have one cup to play for. All the others are gone, and we've had some tough losses, but they're completely behind us. It's unfortunate and fortunate. It would've been nice to have stayed in those tournaments but it has also given us the opportunity to have one goal in sight.

We thought they were a good team, but definitely a beatable team. We feel pretty confident we can come back with a result. The Pumas trip, we didn't know what to expect. I think we have a better chance in Chile. We feel more prepared, we feel we know what this team is about, their strengths, and we can adjust and adapt.

Yes, yes a lot. I was probably more nervous for this game than I have been in a long time. Nerves help sometimes, though.

This year, he's going to hopefully turn some heads and give us a lot more. His opportunity to play will certainly be more, and that's key.

Sometimes it's tough when you are already in the playoffs and there is nowhere to move up or down to maybe focus as much. I think we were guilty of that tonight.

The way we manage the game has to be better. Those were some hard lessons -- hard ones to swallow. When you do something wrong at this level, all of a sudden you're in overtime and facing PKs down a man. Some of the decisions we made were not good; it's that simple.

It's just D.C.-MetroStars stuff -- that's how they all are and that's how it's going to be. That's the beautiful side of a rivalry -- it's heated, there's passion and maybe you want to beat them more than another team because it's such a heated rivalry.

It's not ideal ... but we'll see. It's still a soccer game out there; I've played in a couple. It should come back pretty quickly.

It's that time of the year when the intensity is raised. It happens every year, and I think we responded very well. We fought the battle and we also played some pretty good soccer in the meantime.

It's going to be loud, it's going to be festive, it's going to be fun. When you look back at your career, these type of games are going to be remembered -- the trip, the fans, everyone against you. If you can win in a good atmosphere like that, it builds a lot of character for a team. I'm excited to see how we respond. We saw it in the Pumas game, so we got a taste of it, and we're champing at the bit to redeem ourselves.

It's still early, and being in first place right now isn't the biggest deal in the world. But it is the two first-place teams. We know they've had some early success and they're a good team, as good as they come right now -- and I think they know we're as good as it comes right now.

Everybody's here to prove that they belong on the World Cup team.

It's done as far as I'm concerned. Freddy maybe learned a lesson. He said some stuff, he got punished, and now it's done.

I kept having to remind the guys that I had scored goals in this league before, ... They all thought it was the biggest deal in the world for me.

I'm trying to be realistic about this thing and I'm obviously a bubble player. Where I am on that bubble is up to Bruce. If people don't get healthy and he needs a guy who can play in several positions, he knows I can fill in those spots if he gets into injury trouble with the other guys.

He's an explosive type of player who might fit in with this team. He's a local boy, so he knows how to get to practice.

He plays very well against us every time, and he's a handful. He's one of the best forwards this league has ever seen, and he's going to do what he does. We need to not give him chances, and be aware, because he's a guy who can hang out for 30 minutes or 80 minutes, and then all of a sudden he gets that one chance and you're down 1-0. We need to focus on him the entire game.

The frustrating part is that we are losing these games -- I don't necessarily think these teams are winning them. We're just shooting ourselves in the foot, over and over. These are tough times and I know we're going to turn it around, but it's hard right now.