Group G 1 – GERMANY / 2 – USA / 3 – PORTUGAL / 4 – GHANA
The USMNT did the impossible of advancing from the group of death. This is already an amazing performance and reveals the quality of this squad. Sky is the limits and the next game will be decisive.
U.S. MNT head coach JURGEN KLINSMANN
On advancing from the Group of Death:
JK: “It’s huge. We wanted a tie out of this game, but maybe in the beginning we had a bit too much respect [for Germany]. Then, more and more, we got into the game. We should have created a bit more chances. That’s really something we have to improve on, but overall, tremendous energy, tremendous effort from the whole side. It’s huge for us getting out of this group that everybody said, ‘You have no chance.’ We took that chance and now we move on. We really want to prove a point.”
On what Tim Howard means to the team:
JK: “Timmy is one of our big shots. He’s our leader, he keeps everybody together. We need him right now. In a World Cup, if you want to go far, you need one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and we have that one.”
On what he will tell the team about its performance today:
JK: “We still can do better. We got through the group, but we have to do better in the Round of 16 and we will do better.”
MID Alejandro Bedoya: On Belgium being the USA’s next opponent:
AB: “I can’t really give you anything on that because we haven’t had the chance to sit down and take a look at them. I’m sure we’ll sit down in the next couple days, look at their video and attack them. We need to be better moving the ball and possessing it, playing at a higher tempo. Belgium is a great team as well with great young players so, we have to be careful there as well.”
GK Tim Howard: On what it means for the USA to advance to the knockout round in a second consecutive World Cup:
TH: “I think whether we’re in the Group of Death or not, what’s come to be expected of the U.S. is that we get out of the first round and hopefully make some noise. We’re going to try and do that, but I thought we’ve done well over the last two weeks.”
On how the team, results and tournament are different than four years ago:
TH: “I think we’re playing better. I see it from the back, our ability to open teams up, to possess the ball, to get at teams has been a big difference. Germany aside – this was a tough game, they had a lot of possession and were always going to have a lot of possession – I thought our passing movements have been good, I thought we’ve created chances, whether it’s been one or two today or a host of chances in other games. I really do think this team is better equipped to possess the ball and press teams.”
FW Clint Dempsey: On being underrated by other teams:
CD: “Maybe by other people, but we believe in ourselves and always believed that we could get out of this group if we played well. I thought we put in a lot of work, showed a lot of character, even at times when weren’t playing the best ball. I thought we played really well last game. This game they had most of the possession. We were trying to keep shape, trying to do a better job when we got the ball to catch them on the counter and try to be a little bit better in the attacking third with our final passes. We just weren’t as sharp as we needed to be to get a goal today.”
On the MNT’s success helping soccer in the U.S.:
CD: “You want the game to keep moving in the right direction. You want to continue the development of the game in the states and hope that one day we can get to a final in a major tournament and do really well. That’s what you hope for. I think that we’re playing well and if you look at the last game, I thought we moved the ball around really well and created chances. Today was a different type of game. As much as you want to go out and try to push the game, you also have to be smart because you know in the back of your mind that a draw gets you through. It’s not like a normal game because there’s a lot of factors that play into it. I’m just happy to be not in a situation of trying to calculate. I’m just happy to in the knockout stages and keep progressing.”
