Bruce Arena Good Quotations

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.

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.

Let's give our opponents credit. I think they played real hard and came with a good plan.

He just fell short. Anyone can have a good argument that Taylor belonged. There's no justice in a situation like that.

We look forward to the challenge against Guatemala. Obviously, Carlos Ruiz is the one player we're certainly well aware of. We know from qualifying they have a very good team, so it should be a real good game in Dallas. We look forward to our first visit in this wonderful facility.

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.

He's had two very good games. He's certainly putting himself in a good position. It's going to be competitive right down the stretch for everybody. But Taylor certainly hasn't hurt his cause.

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

Looking at him, it was probably a good decision. He looks fresh, pretty fit. And I think he wants to be here. In the end, it shows it was a wise decision on his part and Man City.

Some of the players are on the fence, so to speak, and have their last opportunity to show - basically the European-based players. 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 for our final preparations.

Josh knows that's an area he's got to get better in. He was very active in the first half and part of a lot of good plays. However, he was also part of a lot of others where he could have made a better pass or done something better.

Our challenge is a pretty great one. This time around, I like our team on paper better than 2002, but you don't win games on paper. On the field is how the teams will be judged. ... With a good training camp, good preparation games and the right mental approach, this will be a team that will challenge anybody in the World Cup.

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.

I wasn't certain how he was going to do, but I can see differences in Steve between now and 2001 when he first came to us. He is a much more experienced player and he is a very good player, and if he remains healthy, there's no reason to believe that he won't be in our first 11.

We played very well. I think we felt guilty of perhaps making things a little bit difficult on ourselves. We created a number of good goal-scoring opportunities and came up short, and that allowed Trinidad to hang around for 89 minutes or so when they could have been punished and sent home a lot earlier.

With a good training camp, good preparation games and the right mental approach, our team will be a team that's going to challenge anybody on the field in this World Cup.

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 previous match played no role in selecting this roster. It was based on fitness and form. We thought this was a good group. We know Bocanegra and Johnson are certainly capable of playing (a full game), but Beasley is still something of a question mark.

Well, he didn't hurt his chances. He's putting himself in very good position.

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.

Both are good prospects. At this point in time Todd may be a little bit more ahead of Heath.

After 45 minutes of good concentration and smart football we started the second half very poorly. Giving the game away in the opening kickoff of the second half was very foolish and very poor play on our part.

I like the fact that we're not playing at altitude (as in Mexico City), and Columbus is as good a venue as we can select. We have no excuses. We need to step on the field and win.

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.

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 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.

Canada is traditionally a very solid team, and this game will be a good test for our domestic players as we begin the critical process of building a roster for the 2006 World Cup. We are looking forward to playing in San Diego, a city with a rich soccer history. It should be an excellent event.

He's an extremely graceful athlete. He's a player with an excellent first touch and great vision. He has very good attacking qualities. But we've seen him in what I would call an amateur level.

It was a good win and good experience for a lot of players. I've been told that we finished first in the group, which is nice, but wasn't critical. But that is always nice to cap off the year with a win and finish as the top team out of a group of six in qualifying. That's a great accomplishment for our group. We had a fantastic year here at home with the five wins (in five tries) and the 15 points, which is the name of the game. Great year.

It was a good win, good experience for a lot of our players. We've been on the road the entire year, and we're exhausted.

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

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.

It's not perfect, but it's a good position to be in.

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.

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.

And he just turned 23. I think we've got ourselves a real good one there.