Bruce Arena Quotes (152 Quotes)

Now we have to head back to camp to touch up the mistakes we made today. Overall, we looked good. The soccer is there, we just need to finish all our chances.

He's a talented kid who is very inexperienced and young so you can't expect too much at this point in time. He's 16 years old any way you look at it. You talk about patience, he clearly needs that. He needs to get a couple of good years under his belt with his club team where he fits in as a regular and sees a bunch of 90-minute games and plays well and deals with all of that. Right now, he has a long way to go.

He's shown steady improvement throughout the camp.

It's a possibility, I don't want to answer that. We'll see how he does.

It's time the American public steps forward and supporters of soccer in this country support our game by watching, by attending games, by buying soccer products, by being good consumers.

It's an opportunity now for a number of players who haven't received a whole lot of minutes in the first three games to show us what they're about.

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.

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.

That makes the European countries big players. Unfortunately we have to play two of them, the Czech Republic and Italy, which is one of the favorites to win the World Cup. In my opinion Brazil is the team to beat.

You always need to be patient, realizing the amount of time off these players have had. The expectations can't be too great. We realize it's going to take some time to settle in.

Taylor easily could have been on the roster. He was certainly among the group as we went through the process. He was in and out, in and out over the last couple of months. His form at the moment had a little to do with it. We looked at the overall roster and tried to find the right balance, the right combination to allow us to play a certain style against certain opponents. ... There's not one factor that made the difference in the end.

I thought it was a well played game for both teams. Both teams had chances in the second half. I thought our team had a much improved effort in the last 45 minutes.

We have about six weeks to move John along. Hopefully he stays injury free. If he's not able to overcome any kind of injuries, he will be a candidate for possible replacement on the roster.

When you cut to the chase, that's what defenders are supposed to be about and that's his strength. Any time you have a solid presence in the heart of your defense that gives confidence to the goalkeepers and the players around him.

For our players, it's also very good for them to be in a venue where they also get to play Italy and feel somewhat comfortable in this venue before we actually come back.

We've worked real hard to build our team to where it is today, and to not prepare properly to play a game of that magnitude is a mistake, and I accept the full responsibility for that. If I felt that it wasn't the right time for us to play that game, I should have been a little bit strong in saying this is not the right time to play.

With only one international fixture date next year, this is an excellent opportunity to get our group together as we continue to shape our team for the World Cup.

On paper, I like this team better than the 2002 team. But as they say, you don't play games on paper. The challenges are great ... and this team will be judged by how they perform on the field.

I'm optimistic that we can qualify out of the group, regardless of what anyone else thinks. I think we're capable of playing with any team in the world.

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.

He's certainly capable. He's a guy who's good around the goal. ... He scored three goals. That's sometimes how you're graded as a striker, and if that's the case, he gets an A for today. All three goals were great.

In this kind of game, you have to jump on any opportunity you get. That made the difference.

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

This is an opportunity for some fresh faces, and we're going to see what they are about at the international level. This game is important because it can eliminate some players from consideration, and it can improve the situation of others.

Just a huge mental mistake. Giving the game away in the opening minute of the second half to me is very foolish.

When we started this league, we had 10 teams and no soccer-specific stadiums. Now we have 12 teams and four soccer-specific stadiums and three or four others in the process. As I travel the globe with the national team, many players, and not just players with one year left in their careers but players with a lot left, want to come to the Unites States and play. Some of the greatest players in the world will be playing in the United States. I really believe that.

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.

If you told me I had to hand in a roster tomorrow, I could do it. However, we know from experience -- at least from the last time -- a lot of things happen.

It was good to see Taylor score a goal because I understand he's supposed to be a goal scorer. It was nice to see him score one in our jersey ... hopefully there's many more to come.

He scores goals in big games and that's what a real goal scorer is about. Obviously, he's one player that we have to focus on.

I was not surprised. We expected them to play the way they did. They had two obviously outstanding goals in the second half.

The German team needs a win because the public demands it.

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.

I think it is his time. It is a position of strength for us.

The draw is important for a country like the U.S. For a country like Brazil it doesn't matter. And the only way anybody determines whether you did well or not is how you advance.

He looks healthy, fit and ready to go. For him, personally, it was a good move.

It's like going from college basketball to the NBA. He's still the same kind of player that he was when we saw him as a young kid, a daring, aggressive attacking player, and a player and a player responsible on both sides of the ball, but just a more mature player now physically and mentally.

I think our performance should be better this week than it was last week. They're another week in camp, they should be getting over the hump in terms of the physical demands and they should be getting sharper on the ball. Hopefully the performance on Sunday will be better.

Landon is an experienced player. He's a player we will look to not only lead us but to be important in our attack.

I think we need to be patient with Eddie. He's just starting to come back. He's only played a couple of games since his injury in late May, so he's not completely in form at the moment.

Despite the final score line, I think it was a dominating performance by our team tonight. I think in the second half the number of substitutions affected the flow of the game.

I haven't even started thinking of a roster for Germany. Any of them (players on the roster) can be a question. If you're 25 with an injury, it could jeopardize your spot for next year.

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.

When we demonstrate ratings, we will have an argument for prime time.

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.

I'm not saying anyone's in or anyone's out after tonight. But Taylor's chances are looking as good as they did (after the Norway game). He's had a good couple weeks, and he's certainly putting himself into a good position. Tonight's play didn't hurt.

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.

In games like this, you have to jump on any opportunity that you get.

He's done well. I had my concerns and I think he's a little ahead of schedule. From what we can see, his injury is behind him. It'll take a little time, but certainly over the next month or so, he should be coming into form.