Friendly – Chile 3-2 USA
Coach Klinsmann reacts:
“I think after minute 65 a lot of the players had very, very heavy legs, which in a certain way is logical when you are two and a half weeks into preseason and you play a team that is in a full swing and goes high tempo. This is the tempo you go internationally.
I thought it was an open game, it was entertaining, and it was full of chances for both sides. I think we could have easily scored a third or fourth goal; they could have scored also another one. Overall, I thought it was a very good test for us to see where everyone is at. But definitely the physical side of it made kind of a turn towards negative for us and it’s a bummer, but it’s understandable.”
“I saw a lot of things that are encouraging and positive. DeAndre was going forward and connecting well. I thought Michael Bradley had overall a very strong performance. Brek Shea coming through the flanks, he’s intimidating, he can go at people, he has pace, and he has the physical presence and is going to score, so I think it’s great. We tried to break in younger players step-by-step, but it’s not going to happen overnight. They need to have more time on the field.
I think Gyasi [Zardes] inspired things a little bit. He had a couple of shots and made good runs. Jozy gave everything he had until that point but he was just dead. So there was good stuff out there for over 60 minutes – very promising. Obviously if you can’t get the tempo anymore, go with them at the same tempo, you’ll give them opportunities and they’ll put them in. It was a close game, it was exciting and a good test at the beginning of the season.”
