Mexico 0-0 USA
U.S. Men’s National Team Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann
On the 0-0 result in Mexico City:
“We came here and we wanted to give it a shot to win this game but obviously we are very pleased with this result. Mexico gave everything they had, put us in a lot of pressure and I think the way our team was organized, connected and committed it was an unbelievable team effort and they deserve a huge compliment. There have been many challenges over the last ten days in terms of injuries, in terms of players not available, after the Costa Rica game people were completely exhausted after playing in the snow and we had another two players out, Matt Besler stepped in, Mo (Edu) stepped in no problem. This group is ready for those challenges and they deserve a huge compliment.”
On the partnership between Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler:
“We’ve got to give credit to our January Camp that gave us the chance to have Omar (Gonzalez) and Matt work together day-by-day; there was already a very good understanding amongst them because they trained a month long together. So we were very calm I knew that once it happened with Clarence that he couldn’t go, I knew that this is the next move, it’s a logical move and a move with a lot of trust and belief in Matt and he showed that. I spoke to him at halftime and with a yellow card, in a place like this, against Chicharito, this is a tricky situation but he said ‘coach no worries, I will be focused and nothing else will happen,’ so it gives us more options again. Looking forward into a very busy summer schedule I think having Omar Gonzalez, growing and maturing, having Matt Besler, growing and maturing, we have more options to pool from, it’s great.”
