The second goal by Ching right at the end of the half basically put the game away. I think Brian did well. He established a couple of decent goal-scoring opportunities. Overall, it was a good performance. |
The thing we wanted to accomplish with these games on Sunday and Monday (was) to give a number of players 90 minutes for the first time in a long time. Out of both games, we had 15 players who played a full 90 minutes and two others that played 90 minutes over two days and that's a real plus right now. |
Their substitutions impacted the flow of the game a bit. They threw us off our game. |
There are other players who could be here who aren't here because of their positions in the league. To get some favors in return ? that means a lot to send those players back. This is a time we could do it. |
There is a certain excitement here. When we come back in June, we hope to not come back and be such nice guests especially when we're playing such important games. |
There is nowhere we don't need to improve. It is just like [before the 2002 World Cup]. We clearly need to make the team better and we will, move the domestic players along, and we have gotten an early start on that because of qualifying early. |
There was such a fine line between some of these players. It was difficult to say no to some of them. But at some point, you have to draw a line. |
There were lessons learned from the last time. We've really closely scrutinized the players. This time around we basically have a roster which we're very confident will be pretty fit. |
There's a strong likelihood he'll be at camp. He has shown a lot of progress and we need to take a look at him. |
There's everything here for players and families to both experience the culture of Germany as well feel comfortable that this is a city that is similar to cities in the United States. And it's a perfect match: great restaurants, lots of entertainment, lot of things to do, a great hotel, great training facilities. Everything we want is here. |
These are just opportunities to evaluate players as we move forward, but you don't make decisions based on one game. Generally, as a rule of thumb, if you get a point on the road in qualifying, it's a pretty good result. |
These are just opportunities to evaluate players as we move forward, but you don't make decisions based on one game. Generally, as a rule of thumb, if you get a point on the road in qualifying, it's a pretty good result. The fact that we played with a new group this game, the result's OK. Would we have liked three points? Sure. But that's the way it is. |
They are a pretty athletic team and their forwards have scored some big goals for them. We told the team before the El Salvador game, in all honesty that the better team in the Panama-El Salvador game was Panama. We felt that [Panama] would be a harder game and I think it will turn out to be that way. |
They're in a position we were in, you want to get it done sooner than later. This is a game where their sights are clearly to win, as it was for Guatemala the last time we were in Guatemala. It will be interesting to see. |
This gives me a last look at domestic players. It's going to help me with some of the decision-making that lies ahead. |