head coach JURGEN KLINSMANN
“We are obviously pleased with the result. We knew it was a very tricky opponent and they proved that. They caused a couple of issues, especially right after half time. We missed a moment in the first half to kill it off with a third goal before they actually got their penalty, when Joe Corona had a nice opportunity. And so we had to hang on for a little bit longer. With Eddie Johnson’s goal, the game was over pretty much. We are happy to be moving on, and hoping for another big crowd in Dallas.”
On the performance of Landon Donovan:
“For us, we take it one game at a time. Landon proved today how valuable he is and how he can make a difference. For us as coaches, it’s important to see who is a difference maker out there, who when maybe things go a little bit the wrong way they take the game on their feet. Landon was one of those players.”
On the use of short corners throughout the game:
“We had that planned out to play constantly short corners because it usually pulls two guys out of the box, and the teams that we face so far often were with eight or nine defending around the six-yard box, so we almost made it mandatory today. If the players make their runs and come from the 18-yard line and not being in too early, it will give you opportunities. It worked out great on Eddie’s goal.”
On the substitution of Eddie Johnson and his goal right after entering:
“That was pretty fast! We have, obviously depending how the game goes, we have already a couple of things in mind. If the game goes well we want to bring on a new guy to give him minutes and an opportunity, but Eddie was planning to come in at a certain point because we want to get him connected to this group as quickly as possible. Wondo (Chris Wondolowski) deserved absolutely to start the game based on what he did in the last couple of games and it worked out really well.”
On the play of Joe Corona:
“We are very pleased. Joe is absolutely coming along. We have some kids coming through that have talent and special parts in their game. Joe is a very smart player. He can read the game very well, anticipate well, and he sees through things as a midfielder. Every game he is growing more and getting more confident in the senior team. It’s the same with Mix Diskerud and Brek Shea. We talk often about the group that didn’t go to London. Sean Johnson is also here and did and awesome against Costa Rica. We keep working with them. Joe understands what we ask and knows that the senior level is a different ballgame. Overall, he’s doing well.”
On what could have been better defensively:
“There were definitely moments today where we had to do a better job defensively after losing the ball. We ran into a couple of counterbreaks from El Salvador, especially for the first 10 minutes after halftime. This we can’t allow, especially against teams like Mexico for example. They will take you apart in that moment. We will show images to the team and say when you lose the ball, this an alarm times 10 and you chase back and get behind the ball.”
U.S. midfielder LANDON DONOVAN
“Getting the two goals relatively early was big. What we are at fault for is not scoring a few more goals and little bit of a questionable call for a penalty, and we were in a game. Going forward we want to be better about putting teams away, but at the end of the day we’re happy with the result.”
On the team’s ability to create chances:
“We’re getting more and more comfortable and the beauty of it is, we can score and create chances in a lot of different ways. Obviously our set pieces have been very good. When we move the ball quickly and break teams down through the middle of the field, we’ve had chances that way. We’ve done a very good job of getting chances wide, in getting crosses in the box. Counterattacks, we’re getting chances. So we’re scoring in all different ways.”
