2014 FIFA World Cup
Jul 1, 2014
Jun 16, 2015
It was the first game for the U.S. Men&s National Team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was a matchup with Ghana, the team that had eliminated the USA in the previous two World Cups and the MNT&s first opponent in the &Group of Death.& It was John Brooks, one year ago today, that a headed in a heart-stopping goal in the 86th minute to give the U.S. a 2-1 win. A dream scenario for Brooks had become reality.
The game began with a historic strike, when the USA took an immediate 1-0 lead off a Clint Dempsey goal that came 29 seconds into the match. It was the fastest goal in World Cup history for the U.S. and a goal that made Dempsey the first MNT player to score in three World Cups.
The defense stifled a number of attacks from Ghana in the minutes that followed, but in the 82nd, the African nation broke through with an equalizing goal. With eight minutes left, the U.S. pushed ahead, battled for a scoring opportunity and earned corner kick, which set the stage for Brooks.
&I had a dream,& Brooks said in the pandemonium that followed the win. &I told some teammates that I dreamed that I scored in the 80th minute and we win the game. Now it was the 86th minute, and we won.&
The 21-year-old, playing in his first World Cup game overwhelmed by the moment and the realization of his dream fell to his knees on the pitch as his teammates embraced him.
Dec 6, 2014
OTTAWA, Canada (Dec. 6, 2014) & The U.S. Women&s National Team will face Australia, Nigeria and Sweden in Group D at the 2015 FIFA Women&s World Cup,
taking place from June 6-July 5 in Canada. The Final Draw took place today at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa.
The U.S. will open Group D play against Australia on June 8 at Winnipeg Stadium. The USA then faces Sweden on June 12 in Winnipeg, followed by Nigeria on
June 16 at BC Place in Vancouver.
&It&s a good group to get us ready to play,& said U.S. WNT head coach Jill Ellis. &Physically, it&s a demanding group, but we&ve got a lot of depth on our
roster and we&ll be able to manage against some good teams with some good challenges. It&s probably the toughest group. That&s historically been the path
the USA has taken, and we&re obviously going to embrace it.
&At the end of the day, you&ve got to play good teams to win it, and at some point you&re going to match up with quality opponents. We&ll be ready. We&ve
got about five or six months to get prepared and ready to go.&
The USA, Nigeria and Sweden have competed in every edition of the FIFA Women&s World Cup.
The U.S. has a combined 46-6-11 record against its three group opponents, holding a 163-54 scoring advantage. The USA is unbeaten against both Australia
(22-0-2) and Nigeria (4-0-0). The U.S. has faced Sweden in the past three FIFA Women&s World Cups and was also the USA&s first ever Women&s World Cup
opponent when FIFA&s premier women&s competition began with the 1991 event in China.
Six teams were seeded and placed in position 1 for each group: host nation Canada, Germany, defending champion Japan, the USA, Brazil and France.
Group A will consist of Canada, China PR, New Zealand and Netherlands. Group B is made up of No. 2-ranked Germany, Ivory Coast, Norway and Thailand. Group
C features Japan, Switzerland, Cameroon and Ecuador. Group E includes Brazil, Korea Republic, Spain and Costa Rica. Group F is headed by France with
England, Colombia and Mexico.
USA&s Group D Opponents:
AUSTRALIA (June 8):
Current FIFA World Ranking:
2015 Women&s World Cup Qualifying:
Finished second in the 2014 AFC Women&s Cup (3-1-1; 9 GF, 5 GA)
Women&s World Cup Finals Appearances:
6 &1995 (12th), 1999 (11th), 2003 (13th), 2007 (7th), 2011 (8th), 2015
Record vs. USA:
Head Coach:
Alen Stajcic
Championship Honors:
Oceania Champions (, 2003. Note: Australia moved to the AFC on Jan. 1, 2006); Asian Football Confederation Champions (2010)
Leading Women&s World Cup Qualifying Scorers:
Katrina Gorry (3), Kate Gill (2)
Key Players:
Lisa De Vanna (Washington Spirit), Caitlin Foord (Sky Blue FC), Katrina Gorry (FC Kansas City), Kate Gill (Perth Glory)
Fast Facts:
With five Asian berths up for grabs, Australia comfortably won through to Canada by virtue of a runners-up finish at the 2014 AFC Women&s Asian Cup &
The team had endured a tumultuous preparation with Alen Stajcic filling the coaching role on an interim basis following the sudden departure of
Hesterine De Reus just prior to the qualifying tournament in Vietnam & Australia saw off Jordan and Vietnam, as well as drawing 2-2 with Japan in the
group stage, before defeating Korea Republic 2-1 in the semifinals .. The Matildas came within a whisker of retaining their Asian crown only
to fall 1-0 against world champions Japan in the final & The current team defy the traditional stereotype of Australian teams and a pacy youthful side
boasts a host of talented ball-players including experienced forwards Lisa De Vanna and Kate Gill
SWEDEN (June 12):
Current FIFA World Ranking:
2014 Women&s World Cup Qualifying:
Finished 1st in UEFA Group 4 (10-0-0); 32 GF, 1 GA
Women&s World Cup Finals Appearance:
7 & 1991 (3rd), 1995 (5th), 1999 (6th), 2003 (2nd), 2007 (10th), 2011 (3rd), 2015
Record vs. USA:
Head Coach:
Pia Sundhage
Championship Honors:
UEFA Women&s Championship (1984)
Leading World Cup Qualifying Scorer:
Lotta Schelin (12)
Key Players:
Nilla Fischer (Wolfsburg), Lotta Schelin (Lyon), Caroline Seger (PSG), Therese Sj&gran (FC Rosengard), Kosovare Asllani (PSG)
Fast Facts:
Former U.S. Women&s National Team head coach Pia Sundhage is the head coach of her native Sweden & Canada 2015 will be Sweden's seventh appearance at
the Women's World Cup, maintaining their perfect record of qualifying & Lost to Germany in the Final in 2003 on a golden goal & Sundhage is highly
decorated (two gold medals and FIFA World Coach of the Year Awards while with the USA) but has never coached a team to the World Cup title, finishing
second with the USA in 2011
NIGERIA (June 16):
Current FIFA World Ranking:
2015 Women&s World Cup Qualifying:
Finished 1st in 2014 African Women&s Championship (16 GF, 3 GA)
Women&s World Cup Finals Appearances:
7 - 1991 (10th), 1995 (11th), 1999 (7th), 2003 (16th), 2007 (12th), 2011 (9th), 2015
Record vs. USA:
Head Coach:
Edwin Okon
Championship Honors:
African Women&s Championship (, , , , 2014)
Leading Women&s World Cup Qualifying Scorer:
Desire Oparanozie (5)
Key Players:
Desire Oparanozie (Guingamp), Azizat Oshoala (Rivers Angels)
Fast Facts:
Nigeria is the dominant women&s side of Africa and has qualified for the Women&s World Cup every year it&s been held & The Super Falcons are
also the most decorated side of the African Women&s Championship, which they&ve won seven times & Nigeria&s best World Cup performance was in 1999 when
they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Brazil after finishing second in their group and seventh overall
For a complete tournament schedule, .
2015 FIFA Women&s World Cup Groups
Group A (Edmonton, Montreal, Winnipeg):
New Zealand
Netherlands
Group B (Ottawa, Winnipeg, Moncton):
Ivory Coast
Group C (Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton):
Switzerland
Group D (Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton):
Group E (Montreal, Moncton, Ottawa):
Korea Republic
Costa Rica
Group F (Moncton, Ottawa, Montreal):
- U.S. All-Time Record vs. Group D World Cup Opponents -
- U.S. 2015 FIFA Women&s World Cup Schedule -
Winnipeg Stadium
Winnipeg Stadium
BC P Vancouver
2015 FIFA Women&s World Cup notes:
The USA is making its seventh appearance in a FIFA Women&s World Cup and is one of seven countries to appear in all seven editions of the tournament, the
others being Brazil, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Norway and Sweden.
The U.S. WNT is one of four CONCACAF representatives at the 2015 FIFA Women&s World Cup after winning the 2014 CONCACAF Women&s Championship. The
runner-up of that qualifying tournament, Costa Rica, is also on hand, as well as third-place finisher Mexico and World Cup host Canada.
The U.S. is the only country to have reached semifinals of every FIFA Women&s World Cup. The USA won in 1991 and 1999.
Despite winning four of the six previous tournaments (two each), the USA and Germany have never met in a FIFA Women&s World Cup final.
The 2015 FIFA Women&s World Cup features six venues: Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Moncton Stadium in Moncton, Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Frank
Clair Stadium in Ottawa, BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and Winnipeg Stadium in Winnipeg. Nine matches, including the semifinal, will be played at Olympic
The 90,185 spectators on hand at the Rose Bowl for the USA&s victory against China PR in the 1999 FIFA Women&s World Cup represent the largest attendance
in the tournament&s history. The largest venue at the 2015 FIFA Women&s World Cup is Olympic Stadium, which seats 66,308.
Abby Wambach&s 13 goals in FIFA Women&s World Cup competition rank third all-time. She trails only Brazil&s Marta and Germany&s Birgit Prinz who have 14
goals apiece.
The U.S. WNT is 27-5-4 all-time in the Women&s World Cup, outscoring its opponents 98-32 in 36 games. The 27 wins, 36 games played and 98 goals scored
are all FIFA Women&s World Cup records.
The USA&s most lopsided victory in the tournament was a 7-0 win against Chinese Taipei in 1991.
Michelle Akers& five goals against Chinese Taipei are the most in a single match in tournament history.
The U.S. holds two other individual records with Kristine Lilly playing a record 30 games in five World Cups and goalkeeper Briana Scurry earning a
record 10 shutouts.
The USA officially clinched a spot in this year&s World Cup with a 3-0 semifinal victory against Mexico on Oct. 24 in the 2014 CONCACAF Women&s
Championship. The USA capped off qualifying with a 6-0 win against Costa Rica in the title game on Oct. 26, led by four goals from Wambach.
Jul 16, 2014
CHICAGO (July 16, 2014) & The U.S. Men&s National Team won Best Moment at the ESPYs this evening for its 2-1 victory against Ghana in the team&s opening group match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Natal, Brazil.
U.S. MNT defender John Brooks scored the game-winning goal in the 86th minute to give the U.S. the dramatic victory after a hard-fought match that the U.S. had led for most of the way. Captain Clint Dempsey scored the fifth-fastest goal in World Cup history when he tallied just 30 seconds into the match, but Ghana tied the game in the 82nd minute. The victory marked the first for the USA against Ghana, which had defeated the U.S. in the previous two World Cups.
Dempsey accepted the ESPY for Best Moment along with seven of his teammates live on stage at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Joining Dempsey on stage were Jozy Altidore, DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Jermaine Jones, Nick Rimando, Chris Wondolowski and DeAndre Yedlin.
Other nominees in the category were Mariano Rivera&s final game and Kevin Durant&s MVP acceptance speech.
The U.S. Men&s National Team also won Best Moment at the 2010 ESPY Awards for the dramatic 1-0 victory against Algeria in its final group match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The ESPY Awards have been given out annually since 1993 and are determined by fan vote.
Jul 14, 2014
U.S. Men's National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann recaps the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and previews the final between Germany and Argentina.
Jul 3, 2014
Jul 2, 2014
On the attention he has received and how he is dealing with it:
&I think when you get in the public eye, you just try and figure out a way to deal with it. I&m old, so I&ve been dealing with it for a while. I keep my
feet on the ground and just figure out a way to deal with it. Like I said, it&s nothing new when you&re in the public eye. It&s nice that America knows
about soccer. I think that&s what&s most important.&
On being the subject of social media praise and photos:
&In today&s day and age with social media and all the rest of it, nothing surprises me. There are some very creative and funny individuals out there. If it
makes them happy, I think it&s quite funny.&
On if he prepared differently or knew the game against Belgium would be different:
&That&s a good question. I&ve been asked that a couple times today. I always try and do the same things every day. I eat the same way, I train the same
way, and I&ve found success doing that. I don&t think you can ever prepare yourself for those types of performances. You just hope that if you work hard
enough for long enough, you&ll get a little bit of luck.&
On his future with the U.S. Men&s National Team:
&I signed an extension which is a four-year contract with Everton. That excites me, all the good things that are going on at that club, which obviously is
a club that I love. What happens going forward with the National Team? I don&t know. The emotions are too raw at the moment so I&ll let everything die
down. I&ll speak to people who are close to me and the manager and decide what my future looks like. I don&t think it&s very black and white to be honest,
so I need to figure all that out.&
On the attention the U.S. MNT gets and competing with the other sports in the U.S.:
&I tell you what, I don&t think it&s a bad thing. Every four years, America gets behind this team, obviously we have a good following anyway, but gets
behind this team and really drives us forward. I live in Europe and there are a lot of European countries that don&t. They&re very cynical. Their team goes
to the World Cup and they don&t do very well and everyone says &I told you so.& I don&t think it&s necessarily a bad thing that all the attention is on us
every four years and that people take notice. It&s hard to sustain that every day. Around the world in Europe and Africa and Asia and South America, soccer
is either the No. 1 sport or the only sport. In America, we&re competing with football, basketball, baseball, hockey. It&s not as easy a question as that,
but the support has been immense.&
On whether or not he might retire:
&There&s a lot that goes into the decision and right now emotions are high so I want to let things settle. There&s no doubt, barring injury, that I&ll be
fit and willing to keep going, but there are a lot more things that go into that decision than just my physical health. It&s something that, in time, I&ll
On whether he was more tired after making a record-setting 16 saves than after a normal game:
&No, physically I was fine. Physically, I was great. I think when you&re active and you&re in the match a lot, you just go into a zone, your body goes into
autopilot. I mean, those guys in front of me are incredible. How they run that long and that hard is beyond me. I&m driving them on, I&m cracking the whip
and I can see they don&t want to do it but they keep pushing themselves and their performance was absolutely miraculous. It&s very tough to do what they
did for 120 minutes.&
On the influence of Roberto Martinez on his goalkeeping and playing the ball out of the ball back with his feet more:
&That&s a great observation. I think it&s laughable that I find myself in the games sometimes thinking, &I&m only doing this because Roberto wants it done,
you know?& He&s just been incredible. He has given me the confidence to not only play out of the back but to control the rhythm and to see how the build-up
works from a goalkeeping standpoint. He&s been fabulous. He and I were introduced to each other at 34 and I thought that was it, I thought I had learned
everything I needed to learn. He&s been a breath of fresh air in his style and the way he has encouraged me to play.&
On his thoughts regarding the young talent coming into the Men&s National Team:
&The talent pool is rich. This was a very young team and even if guys didn&t play serious minutes, they were a part of this experience and they&ll be so
much better for it in the coming years whether that be Copa America, Gold Cup, Confederations Cup, World Cup qualifying and on to the next World Cup. As we
saw with Julian Green last night who came on with a goal that we desperately needed, but I think more so DeAndre Yedlin has just put a big smile on my
face. He comes into the game and faces Eden Hazard and he never looked back, and Eden Hazard is the best player in the Premier League, or was one of them
last year, and he&s a threat to anyone and DeAndre got his head down and dared him to come at him. I think it&s very exciting for U.S. Soccer.&
Jul 2, 2014
U.S. MNT head coach JURGEN KLINSMANN
Thanking the media and those in Brazil who helped the MNT on the trip:
&First of all, before we get into the questions, we really would love to thank S&o Paulo FC for hosting us during those couple weeks. It&s been tremendous. It&s been an amazing experience for all of us. Also, [thanks to] the setup of the hotel in the city and the people there. Everywhere we went we were just welcomed with open arms. It&s been a special time here. We want to thank you guys for hanging in there with us. It&s been almost seven weeks now. A lot of you were already up in Stanford and the whole journey through New York to Jacksonville down here, then obviously city by city here in Brazil. A big thank you to all of you, the way you approach everything very, very respectfully. A great relationship. We are all in this together, as we always say. We all try to make this game grow in our country and get it to the next level and working hard on it. It doesn&t mean you can&t have critical questions or critical comments or critics. It&s all totally fine. I think it&s been a great time. Unfortunately it came to an end last night with that game against Belgium. We have to accept that. But overall I think everybody&s proud of their team that went to their limits. Everybody can take a lot from those six, seven weeks that we spent together.&
On how to continue developing the team and soccer in the U.S.:
&I think it&s hugely important for us to make the game grow, the players grow, and really find ways to improve on every front. Having next summer&s Gold Cup with that, hopefully being qualified for the Confederation&s Cup in 2017; in 2016 having an Olympics that is very, very important to us. We&ve got to do much better than the last cycle there. Having a Copa America in the United States, it&s pretty much the second biggest competition you can have. I understand the European Championship is huge, but Copa America is huge as well. Hosting that means a lot to us. That&s another huge platform to make the team grow, make players grow and obviously hopefully qualify for the Confederations Cup. Every year you have big benchmarks that you can approach. In all that, the relationship with MLS is extremely important. It&s very good. We bounce so many things back and forth. We&re constantly communicating with each other. We&re trying to get on the same page more and more schedule-wise, which is important so we hopefully can get all the players that we need in order to be internationally successful.&
On how each of the players can grow from the World Cup experience:
&After analyzing every game of this World Cup, and we will do that, we will watch them over and over again and then look at details and communicating those details then to the players, in a couple weeks from now after they have their break, we&ll tell you in which areas we need to improve, in which areas we have to learn. When you play a tournament like that, I mentioned it last night, you play every four or five days, so you have to be on top of your game in every one of them. In the tournament, the maximum is seven games, but if you go through an entire season and you play in a rhythm of every four days, that is really demanding. This is about consistency, it&s about living the right way, all these on and off topics. It&s about keeping the highest tempo, the highest level of concentration, not giving away anything. It&s about the spirit of the group, being connected, helping each other out everywhere.&
On helping players regardless of where they play their club soccer:
&We always said that if they play in Mexico, if they play in MLS, or if they play in Europe, our job is to help them to play to their highest capabilities, to reach their highest personal level. When we get the players, we will try to push them. I think quite a lot of the players reached their highest level in the last couple weeks. I think we saw outstanding performances. This is our job as coaches. We are not there not to control their personal paths in terms of what clubs they play in and how they structure their careers. We don&t really have that much of a say in them. I mentioned it many times, I maybe sound like a broken record & do we want them in the biggest clubs possible? Do we want them in the highest competitions possible? Yes. I think that&s just normal. It&s in every sport the same way. But no matter where they are coming from, if we are convinced that they have the potential and they have the quality to be part of the senior National Team, we&re going bring them in no matter where they play and help them to raise the bar again.&
On injuries, the medical staff and the rigors of the World Cup:
&We knew that bringing Jozy on the bench was not meant to have Jozy on the field. He still needs a couple more days. But he&s healthy now. He&s ready to go back and build. We kept them on the edge with training and demanding because we knew that we&re going to play the best in the world every four days, so you&ve got to maximize every little area you have. Our fitness coaches did a tremendous job. Out medical staff was on top of the players every day. They worked day and night on all the players. This is what a World Cup is about. It&s a non-stop thing. It&s 24/7 for these couple of weeks.&
On Tim Howard&s performance against Belgium:
&I think it&s been a fantastic performance by Tim. He kept us in the game and he made it possible that we could have won this game or at least equalized in the last couple of minutes and go into a penalty shoot-out. It would be better for him to answer that question, maybe it was the best game that he played in his career, but only he can tell us. I didn&t watch all of his games. It&s fantastic because it also shows you how all the games of the World Cup were received back at home. Many people watched this competition, maybe more than four years ago in South Africa. It&s fun to see that and he deserves every compliment for his game last night.&
On the intensity of the knockout round:
&It&s little things that decide if you go on in the knockout stage or not. All of the knockout stage games were great, with two or three exceptions, but other ones were very, very close games and went into overtime, went into even penalty shootouts. Brazil had to go through that right away. It shows you that things are doable. In order to make them happen, it&s little things that make the difference. A little bit of luck, also maybe a little bit of individual plays that put the ball in the net or not.&
On the mentality and accountability of players changing with the growth of soccer in the U.S.:
Overall, we&re going in the right direction. I think the players understand & we often talk about this grinding attitude or mentality. You&ve got to wear a team down. You can&t loosen up. You can&t relax, never in a game. In CONCACAF, you can go and think it&s goin it&s no easy game anymore. All the teams globally caught up. They know how to train. They know how to play an all year-round season. They have strong domestic leagues. Their best players play in Europe, most of them. Therefore, you know how challenging it is. I think with the competition that we have now happening every year, it will help us to understand that we need to become more consistent. It&s also more demanding, more demanding on the players. Not just letting them get away with things, getting critical in certain moments, and make it clear that if you would have put that ball in the net yesterday, we would be in the next round. So think about that for a second without making it too harsh, but they need that sense of accountability, a sense of criticism, and people around them care about it. It&s good. We discussed that many times. We all have different opinions. We all would play 11 different players from the beginning on, but that is good because it gives a sense of people caring about the game. This is what happens right now in the United States. Fans and the media, you care about it and you bring in your own opinions and different opinions that the coach or the players have, it makes them feel accountable and not just walk away from a bad performance and nothing happens. No. If you have a bad performance, people should tell you that so you can make sure the next game is not bad anymore and you step it up and be alert about that. This is the growth of the game in our country. People now are starting to care about it. Fans care about it. They comment on social media, they comment everywhere about it. And that&s good. We need to make this grow and make that continue, that they get a sense of that.&
On if he feels vindicated looking back on the tournament now about his comments that the U.S. wasn&t ready to win the World Cup:
&I think saying that we come into the World Cup [that we are going to] win the World Cup is not right because you would raise the expectations to a level that is just over the moon. Is it possible to come through the group that we were in? Yes, because we did it. It is doable, it is possible. Is it possible now to go game by game and maybe even win four games? Yes it is possible. But, you can go in there and say we are going to win the World Cup because you have teams like Brazil, Germany and all the big, big countries in there. You have to take it one step at a time. If we equalize the [Belgium] game, if Wondo&s ball goes in and you win it 1-0 in the last minute, you play now Argentina and is Argentina beatable? Absolutely. If you go through Ghana, Portugal, Germany and Belgium then you take on Argentina. Absolutely we would have taken on Argentina. Crazy enough, Greece won the Eruos in 2004, and everybody though this is unbelievable. But it depends on how you create the focus in our own environment going into a tournament like the World Cup, and I thought it&s not the right thing for me to say that we&re coming to Brazil to win the World Cup. Is this a dream for everybody? Absolutely.
On what the expectations would be when the U.S. is a regular top eight or top four team in the world:
&This is definitely something we want to break into rather sooner than later. Was it our goal to come here and make it to the quarterfinals? Absolutely. Or, Maybe even surprise some people more and make ti to the semifinals? Absolutely, yes. After the ending last night we have to wait another four years for trying to do that, but I think we can only grow. Our upside is far bigger than a lot of other countries because the game is breaking through on all levels. We have to help the game grow in many different ways: with coaches educations, with referee education , with player development, with connecting the dots between the professional leagues and with U.S. Soccer as well. It&s still a work in progress, but why not try to get into those top eight? We tried before the tournament to get friendlies against different countries, they said, &No.& They said, &We don&t want to play this U.S. team because we don&t k they might beat us.& They don&t want to go with a negative experience to the World Cup. Now after this World Cup, a lot of countries look at us differently and say OK, and they give us a game. If it&s South American countries, or it&s E they&re not taking us lightly anymore no matter where we go. So, we&re building that respect more and more. Hopefully, we are ready now to say we are in those top eight, top 10 teams rather sooner than later.&
On which players over 30 he sees being part of the team moving forward:
&There&s no, &Thank you and bye.& It&s always defined by performance, by what you bring to the table. I think there&s a good thing about going into the next year is that we have the opportunity to see a lot of young players come into our platform, into the senior team and we can give them time to show where they&re at right now. So the more experienced players, we can tell them now for the next couple of months, listen, &Play in your club environment. We know you inside and out. We know what you bring to the table.& But, maybe right now for the next couple friendlies that come up and for the next year, we want to see the young players grow and see how far they can make it. Then obviously comes the Gold Cup. We want to go to the Gold Cup with the strongest team possible. Then it&s going to be similar to a World Cup or the last Gold C we want to play our best team possible. We want to see how many of the more experienced players are still in it and how many of them are out. This transition year now coming up is definitely an opportunity to bring a lot of young players through the ranks and see what they are capable to do already.&
On if U.S. players are good enough to win more World Cup games on a talent level and how he can help make them better over the next four years:
&We get benchmarked at the World Cup and our benchmark ended last night. There&s definitely stuff we have to improve and get better in. It&s many things off the field and many things on the field. Playing at that kind of a tempo, at that kind of a rhythm every four days & this has to become the norm, which [it is not yet.] Maybe an example is Fabian Johnson with Hoffenheim, he never played every four days because they don&t play Europa League or Champions League. So he played every week just one game. Now suddenly you hit this kind of level at the highest tempo and your body gives you signals [that it&s too much.] Even though we trained the Send-Off games, players are not used to it yet. So our job as coaches is how can we make it clear that in order to get further and further we need to add the work load, we need to add the competition level, we need to make them understand what recovery time means, what their life off the field plays a role in many things you can achieve in your career. We have to continue to communicate that, to show them and especially start to implement that with our Under-17, Under-18, Under-20, Under-21, which will be the future Olympic team because that&s the next Generation that&s going to break in. The more we get that message to those kids, the more we will benefit a couple of years from now. When you go out in the Round of 16, clearly it gives you the message you have a lot of work still ahead of you.&
On how he can get the players to play higher up the field, toe-to-toe with top teams:
&I think it&s a mentality topic that we have to break through in a certain way because the interesting thing is every time we go down a goal, we shift it up. Then suddenly we build the pressure higher up and give [our opponent] a real good game. There&s still this sense of too much respect often. That&s why I try to play friendly games against European teams. Yes you respect your opponent, but to leave that respect off the field and go and give them the real games. A good example was in Bosnia. We were down 2-0 at halftime and I told the guys, &You have a game here. You just have to take it. You Have to shift it up there, put them under pressure and they will be surprised.& We turned that game around, won 4-3, and Bosnia after the game said, &Yeah, actually [the U.S. can do that.& So, it is still a mentality topic that we are working on. Not dropping to deep, not giving the opponent the first move all the time. Once you concede a goal, what&s your reaction? Now you have to chase the game and suddenly we are capable to do it. We could have turned [the Belgium] game around in the last 15 minutes of extra time. Absolutely, we had enough chances to win it 3-2 in extra time. But why not do it earlier? This is a constant discussion we have. This is why it&s so important that I have [U.S. U-20 MNT head coach] Tab Ramos with us, [U.S. U-18 MNT head coach] Javier Perez with us, [U.S. U-17 MNT head coach] Richie Williams with us, to make them clear that we have to start this process earlier with younger players, so we are not reacting to the opponent, and we try to take the game to them. Play it. Play it and here and there if you lose a game you get a lesson and that will be it. I believe it&s more a mental topic that we have to work on then it is a talent topic.&
On how losing Jozy Altidore changed the team&s tactics for the subsequent games:
&It had an impact definitely because he&s a big part of our spine. He&s a player that keeps two center backs on their toes, he can hold the ball and he gives Clint then more space and more freedom to roam around him and to get the whole game higher up the field. Not having Jozy
it had an impact, but it&s not a complaint. It is what it is. Injuries happen to other teams as well, so it&s not at all an excuse, but definitely it had an impact.&
On the positives to take away from the World Cup and the first thing to start working on:
&We look into the younger generation first of all. We look into what comes through now in the U-21s, U-20s and U-18s. We have had discussions already with Tab and Javier, and we want to see how much of the talent there is going to be close to break into the senior National Team. This year coming up is an opportunity to work on many different fronts and the next benchmark will be the Gold Cup next summer. We are eager to keep working. We have a tremen a staff that not only works within the United States but works internationally. I think the help of Berti Vogts this last couple of weeks was a real pleasure. It was outstanding with his wisdom that he brings to the table and his eyes on things from the outside was very helpful to us. We have an established network now in Europe that can observe our young players coming through the ranks in Europe, which we have a couple of very good talents coming there as well. We built all that now over the last two, three years. It&s there, it&s working and we continue to build on it, but still in every area we discuss about player development we can do better.&
On how he views the record viewing numbers in the U.S.:
&We are all very excited about that. We are excited seeing soccer breaking through or just getting a lot of recognition in the United States now. A lot of people being on TV and being at fan festivals and getting that connection to millions of people. The game has always been very popular in the United States. Millions of children play soccer. It&s popular in high school, college and the league now is a national league that does tremendously well being built 20 years ago, getting better and better. At the end of the day, like in every country, the locomotive of getting to the next level is the National Team. The National Team, whenever a World Cup comes along, it has to do well, it has to inspire the home country to jump on board. This team now inspired the fans back at home to jump on board and have fun, to enjoy those dramatic games that they saw and keep their fingers crossed and go through emotions positively and negatively. It has been huge what happened the last couple of weeks and the connection to the fans in the United States through you media people. They should be proud of that, the players should be proud of that and the fans should be proud of that too. We saw this building the last two, three years with the American outlaws coming with more and more chapters throughout the country. Our World Cup Qualifying games were all sold out, we had a huge response there. Our Send-Off games before the World Cup, we&re finishing them in Jacksonville in front of more than 50,000 people. That all shows you that soccer&s breaking through. That is deserved recognition without taking anything away from the other big American sports. I think it&s important that people identify themselves with how the American team is playing. The energy and the commitment and tempo that we played with made people proud at home and surprised a lot of people outside of the United States, maybe in Brazil or in Europe. I got many emails and comments from European people in Italy, France and Germany who said, &Wow, we never saw this before that you were so close to beat the big ones.& That&s a compliment and we take that compliment but it makes us even more hungry for the next time.&
Jul 2, 2014
Jul 2, 2014
U.S. Soccer Federation President SUNIL GULATI
On the team&s effort against Belgium:
&A heroic effort. Belgium is a very good team. Two guys from Everton were the difference: Timmy Howard kept us in the game with an extraordinary performance and [Romelu] Lukaku obviously made the difference coming on. Even when we were down 2-0, I thought we would come back, and we had four, five chances. There was so much pure emotion.&
On the Jurgen Klinsmannn&s impact on the team:
&I don't think there&s any doubt about that and I think the players would agree. We&re still building and it&s obviously disappointing not to get a little further here. It&s no longer the case that we&re happy just to be in the second round. We want to advance, the players want to advance and they know they&re capable of it.&
On Tim Howard¹s performance:
&Tim Howard is an important player on our team and he&s expected to make big saves. Tonight he made a lot of big saves, the most since 1966 in a World Cup. That&s what he&s supposed do, that&s his job and he&d tell you that as well. It was an extraordinary performance.&
On the growth of soccer in the U.S.:
&The country was paying attention, and I think we&re building on something. We&re building on something: Bob [Bradley] did a great job, Bruce [Arena] before him & Jurgen is building on that. We&ve got some new exciting players, so there&s progress on the field and it&s especially progress when you think about the number of people at home who were paying attention.&
U.S. MNT head coach JURGEN KLINSMANN
Opening comments:
"It's a bummer for us ending on the losing side after a game of 120 minutes that gave everything to the fans, to the crowd & a real drama, a thriller. We had enough possibilities to equalize that game and we meant to put it away earlier, but big compliment to Belgium and congratulations to them to move on into the quarterfinals. It was a game that just went to the extreme. We all are very, very proud of our team, of every player stepping on the field today gave everything they had. I think they made their country proud with this performance and also with their entire performance in this World Cup. You have to swallow this for a second, but after a little bit of a break, you have to move on." &
On his initial thoughts about the game:
&You can stop them in a certain way. There will be chances on their end but I think we had our chances as well. It&s opening up after a certain time, after an hour and 17 minutes into a game like this, things will open up because the legs get heavy and they&re going to push it to the limits. That&s what we did. We had our chances to win. We didn& they put it in at the end. But it&s been a thriller. I it was everything that a football game really wants to have. I think the whole country and all the fans that came down to Brazil can be proud of their team.&
On starting Geoff Cameron and the tactical approach to the match:
&With Cam coming in at this point, we hoped that he would take on (Marouane) Fellaini and that&s exactly what he did. I think he had a very, very good game. It&s a little bit of a different style. I think we had to push it higher up and then find Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey up higher. It worked out well. It was the right thing to do, but at the end when you have the opportunities at that level you&ve got to put them in.&
On the midfield looking tired and saving a substitute until extra time:
"They were all on their limits, every player on the field because the way we played our games with high energy through every game we knew that sooner or later the team will hit the wall. It's just normal. You don't want to give a substitution away too early because maybe another player goes out with injury or cramp. We needed to wait with the third sub a little bit longer and then made it then. All of the players today it just went beyond their capabilities and I told them in the locker room that they should be very proud of themselves, and take a lot of positive steps back home after this World Cup." &
On the injuries and DeAndre Yedlin stepping in:&
"What leads to injuries is fatigue. What leads to injuries is playing on the highest level with the highest intensity that you've never played before. We did a really excellent, amazing job, until this point today having 23 players. We had Jozy coming back but it was a little too early for that. I think our staff did a tremendous job preparing our team for the extreme conditions in this World Cup. You always have to expect at some point that a player, or two or three going down. And that's why you build someone behind him, and we built DeAndre Yedlin behind Fabian and we knew, OK, now it was his turn. The way the kid played tonight and previous occasions there was just no fear at all and doing very, very well. It is a completely different level that we experienced here. A lot of players are not used to going every four days on the highest level and then extra time. That's what we prepared them for and I think they did themselves proud. "
On Tim Howard:
"This was definitely an amazing goalkeeper performance. There is no doubt about it. He should be very proud of himself and we are proud to have him with us. Tim played tonight just phenomenal, he was outstanding. He kept us a long time in this game. We knew that going forward sooner or later we would have our chances, but he had an absolute amazing match tonight and you can just give him the biggest compliments in the world. "
On Tim Howard keeping the team in the match:
"The longer he keeps you in the game the more you hope let's get some breaks and go forward and find our own chances. The more the game went on, the more chances we created. That's what you want to build on the back of Tim, getting back in the game and then finding opportunities to score.Those games are decided by little, little things. Thanks to Tim we had that possibility throughout 120 minutes because he kept us in there."
On Julian Green:
"Julian was growing at a very fast speed in the last seven weeks, and we guided him through that process. If the occasion [to put him into a match] had been there already we would have done that. I knew that the moment would come today, but then the injury to Fabian early, issues at other positions delayed it and delayed it because when you go into extra time you want to make sure you're not making the third sub too early. We knew that he was ready. I told him before the game watch the No. 2, read him, have a specific eye on him and he knew that he might get this chance today. It was just phenomenal how he came in and scored that goal and gets us back now and then we just need a little bit more luck to get the second one and that was not the case. It's fun to watch that kid grow."
On the impact of the team&s dual nationals:
"We're looking for all Americans around the world. No matter what dual background they have. We have more coming through and that's just part of globalization as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago."
On the difference between the U S., Germany and Belgium:
"Here and there, I think it's a little bit still the mental approach. We have to learn more and more. I think that we are in that process to take our game to the opponent no matter what their name is. Here and there, we wait just a little bit too long to start our game. We told them from the beginning that we're trying to create. We're going to win the one-against-one battles especially in the midfield and create in our own end. There is still a little too much respect on our end when it co why not really play? It is something that we have to go through, I don't know how many years it takes. I think it is a process that the players need to realize that you have to take it to the opponent. Don't back up so much. I'm screaming my lungs off on the sideline to push them higher up the field. I think that this is something that we just need to get out of our minds that we start to shift the whole game further up, even if it's against talented teams.
On the team's progress in his first three years:
"I'll leave that up to you. It's kind of your job. I think that we worked tremendously over the last couple of years. I said at the beginning&of the last couple of years that I continue on the foundation that Bob passed on to me which was a very strong foundation with the great job that he's done. I found ways to introduce new, young players into our program and develop the game on every front of it. If it's on the younger level, it's on the senior level, on the organizational side, wherever it is, I think we've done a lot, a lot of work those couple years. Now it comes to a point where you have to swallow a game like this today and have to find a way to move on. Obviously we're excited about some young players through the ranks, some young players that maybe were not there yet but we know now what we have with them. We are excited with building a next Olympic team cycle which is huge for us going to Rio de Janeiro in two years. We have a very exciting competition two years from now with Copa America in the United States. The way that the people, the fans, embraced the team and the sport in the last couple years will only continue to grow, especially with a league that is getting stronger and stronger and with the competitions we have ahead of us next year with the Gold Cup, then Olympics and Copa America, and then hopefully the Confederations Cup and then the four year cycle goes into the World Cup in Russia. I think we've done a lot of work. We would have liked to continue longer in this tournament. There's no double about it there's a disappointment there. It's just normal. We had the chances to put them away and on the other end Belgium had their chances too. I think there's a lot to build on going forward." &
On takeaways from the 2014 World Cup:
&We take a lot, a tremendous amount away from this experience. We grew a lot. We now know that we can play eye-to-eye with the big nations. The teams that we faced here are favorites to win the World Cup and we&ve done tremendously well against them. We see a couple of young players coming through the ranks. To see Julian Green jumping on the field and scoring right away and DeAndre Yedlin, we have many other youngsters waiting. After you finish a World Cup, you discuss the future of it and that goes towards the young players that we have in our country and we build the next cycle.&
On looking forward after this World Cup:
"What you hope is that your team really takes this experience and understands now what this level means, what this intensity means, what the pace of the game means and the demands. It's not only just going to training or to go play a game on the weekend. It's about lifestyle. So much comes into this. The experience of the last seven weeks, every little piece plays a role in building a successful team for a World Cup. I think they learned a tremendous amount. I think they all went to their limits. They gave everything they had."
December 4, 2009
Cape Town International Convention Center
June 16, 2014
Estadio das D Natal, Brazil
Dempsey, Brooks
June 22, 2014
Arena A Manaus, Brazil
Dempsey, Jones
June 26, 2014
Arena P Recife, Brazil
July 1, 2014
0-0 D 1-2 a.e.t.
Fonte N Salvador, Brazil
2014 FIFA World Cup Roster
CLUB/COLLEGE
Boca Raton, Fla.
Sunderland (England)
Caps: 74 Goals: 24
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Houston Dynamo
Crofton, Md.
Real Salt Lake
Weston, Fla.
Nantes (France)
Caps: 36 Goals: 2
Overland Park, Kan.
Sporting Kansas City
Caps: 22 Goals: 0
Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Toronto FC
Caps: 91 Goals: 12
Berlin, Germany
Hertha Berlin (Germany)
Attleboro, Mass.
Stoke City (England)
Frankfurt, Germany
Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)
Caps: 16 Goals: 0
St. Charles, Mo.
Houston Dynamo
Nacogdoches, Texas
Seattle Sounders FC
Caps: 110 Goals:39
Oslo, Norway
Rosenborg (Norway)
Caps: 23 Goals: 4
Dallas, Texas
Tampa, Fla.
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Homer Glen, Ill.
Aston Villa (England)
Shutouts:10
North Brunswick, N.J.
Everton (England)
Shutouts: 35
Mobile, Ala.
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
Munich, Germany
Borussia Moenchengladbach (Germany)
Chicago, Ill.
New England Revolution
Caps: 48 Goals: 3
Montclair, Calif.
Real Salt Lake
Caps: 16 Shutouts: 4
Danville, Calif.
San Jose Earthquakes
Caps: 24 Goals: 9
Seattle, Wash.
Seattle Sounders FC
Caps: 9 Goals: 0
Longwood, Fla.
Sporting Kansas City
Caps: 28 Goals: 3
2014 FIFA World Cup Roster
Jozy Altidore
Position: Forward
Club: Sunderland (England)
DaMarcus Beasley
Position: Defender
Club: Houston Dynamo
Kyle Beckerman
Position: Midfielder
Club: Real Salt Lake
Alejandro Bedoya
Position: Midfielder
Club: Nantes (France)
Matt Besler
Position: Defender
Club: Sporting Kansas City
Michael Bradley
Position: Midfielder
Club: Toronto FC
John Brooks
Position: Defender
Club: Hertha Berlin (Germany)
Geoff Cameron
Position: Defender
Club: Stoke City (England)
Timmy Chandler
Position: Defender
Club: Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)
Brad Davis
Position: Midfielder
Club: Houston Dynamo
Clint Dempsey
Position: Forward
Club: Seattle Sounders FC
Mix Diskerud
Position: Midfielder
Club: Rosenborg (Norway)
Omar Gonzalez
Position: Defender
Club: LA Galaxy
Julian Green
Position: Midfielder
Club: Bayern Munich (Germany)
Brad Guzan
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Aston Villa (England)
Tim Howard
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Everton (England)
Aron Johannsson
Position: Forward
Club: AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
Fabian Johnson
Position: Defender
Club: Borussia Moenchengladbach (Germany)
Jermaine Jones
Position: Midfielder
Club: New England Revolution
Nick Rimando
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Real Salt Lake
Chris Wondolowski
Position: Forward
Club: San Jose Earthquakes
DeAndre Yedlin
Position: Defender
Club: Seattle Sounders FC
Graham Zusi
Position: Midfielder
Club: Sporting Kansas City
Time (ET) / Result
Brazil vs. Croatia
Mexico vs. Cameroon
Brazil vs. Mexico
Cameroon vs. Croatia
Cameroon vs. Brazil
Croatia vs. Mexico
Time (ET) / Result
Spain vs. Netherlands
Chile vs. Australia
Spain vs. Chile
Rio de Janeiro
Australia vs. Netherlands
Porto Alegre
Australia vs. Spain
Netherlands vs. Chile
Time (ET) / Result
Colombia vs. Greece
Belo Horizonte
Ivory Coast vs. Japan
Colombia vs. Ivory Coast
Japan vs. Greece
Japan vs. Colombia
Greece vs. Ivory Coast
Time (ET) / Result
Uruguay vs. Costa Rica
England vs. Italy
Uruguay vs. England
Italy vs. Costa Rica
Italy vs. Uruguay
Costa Rica vs. England
Belo Horizonte
Time (ET) / Result
Switzerland vs. Ecuador
France vs. Honduras
Porto Alegre
Switzerland vs. France
Honduras vs. Ecuador
Honduras vs. Switzerland
Ecuador vs. France
Rio de Janeiro
Time (ET) / Result
Argentina vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina
Rio de Janerio
Iran vs. Nigeria
Argentina vs. Iran
Belo Horizonte
Nigeria vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina
Nigeria vs. Argentina
Porto Alegre
Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Iran
Time (ET) / Result
Germany vs. Portugal
Ghana vs. USA
Germany vs. Ghana
USA vs. Portugal
USA vs. Germany
Portugal vs. Ghana
Time (ET) / Result
Belgium vs. Algeria
Belo Horizonte
Russia vs. Korea Republic
Belgium vs. Russia
Rio de Janeiro
Korea Republic vs. Algeria
Porto Alegre
Korea Republic vs. Belgium
Algeria vs. Russia
Round of 16
Time (ET) / Result
Brazil vs. Chile
1-1 (Brazil wins 3-2 on PKs)
Belo Horizonte
Colombia vs. Uruguay
Rio de Janeiro
Netherlands vs. Mexico
Costa Rica vs. Greece
1-1 (Costa Rica wins 5-3 on PKs)
France vs. Nigeria
Germany vs. Algeria
Porto Alegre
Argentina vs. Switzerland
Belgium vs. USA
Quarterfinals
Time (ET) / Result
Brazil vs. Colombia
France vs. Germany
Rio de Janeiro
Netherlands vs. Costa Rica
0-0 (Netherlands wins 4-3 on PKs)
Argentina vs. Belgium
Semifinals
Time (ET) / Result
Brazil vs. Germany
Belo Horizonte
Netherlands vs. Argentina
0-0 (Argentina wins 4-2 on PKs)
Third Place
Time (ET) / Result
Brazil vs. Netherlands
Belo Horizonte
Time (ET) / Result
Germany vs. Argentina
1-0 a.e.t.
Rio de Janeiro
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