US - Ecuador: post games interviews with Klinsmann, Agudelo and Dempsey

On Tuesday Oct 11th 2011 at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ the US Men National soccer team squared off against Ecuador. The visitors played a very solid game and were able to beat the hosts 1:0. That was a third loss for the US under their new coach Juergen Klinsmann in just five games. Here is what some key members of the US squad had to say after the game:

Coach Juergen Klinsmann:



Forward Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls):




Attacking midfielder Clint Dempsey (Fulham):

"I scored 3 goals in my last 6 games, so I am feeling pretty confident in front of a goal personally. I thought we played really well in the first half. Second half they had a little bit more of the play, but I thought that a fair result tonight would have been a draw."

Watch full interview here:

Full interview:

What can you say about today’s game? 

CD: That was a game of two halves. In the first half we were excellent, created a lot of chances, unfortunately not to score a goal. In the second half I think we were unlucky to go a goal down.

As a team you have problems with both winning and scoring. Why is that so? 

CD: Last game we won 1:0 and I did score. I scored 3 goals in my last 6 games, so I am feeling pretty confident in front of a goal personally. I thought we played really well in the first half. Second half they had a little bit more of the play, but I thought that a fair result tonight would have been a draw.

This was your 80th game in the national team. Do you feel the burden to pick the team up when they need it the most? 

CD: I always put pressure on myself to perform whether I am a veteran or not. I’ve always been that type of a person to go out every game and try to make an impact and try to win it. So it doesn’t matter whether it’s my first cap or my 80th cap – I have the same mentality.

At Fulham you play on the left whereas on the US team Juergen puts you in the middle. Where do you feel more comfortable? 

CD: I like both positions cause you’re in an attack I am able to go forward and create chances. I feel like I am able to impact the game a little bit more being in the center of the pitch, because I think more traffic goes through there, but I feel that I can be effective on both positions and it’s just about doing what’s best for the team.

You got your first win in the Premiership and doing well in the Europa League. Next week you will face Polish Champion in Kraków. How much do you know about Wisła and do you think you can win in Poland? 

CD: First we have Stoke away before that game, but anytime you play a team away from home it’s always going to be difficult. Obviously they have to be a good team to be in Europa League. I haven’t been able to look at too much footage of them, but I am sure when I get back to Fulham we will study the tapes to make sure we are ready for the game.

Scoring goals remains an issue for you guys. Where lies the problem? Comfort level? Confidence in each other? 

CD: I would’ve been nice to have a goal for all that hard work. In the second half we lost a little bit of our rhythm. There also have been a couple of changes, because Juergen is giving the players a chance to prove themselves and still is trying to figure out what the starting eleven is going to be. Saying that I think that we put enough pressure at the end of the game that we thought we could’ve squeezed it out, you know, the draw. But I am happy and really excited with the way we played the first half and excited that we were able to get a win in our last game against Honduras.

Is it important, frustrating or maybe irrelevant that Landon Donovan is not here with you guys now that you are starting to playing under Juergen’s systems? You know each other well, so it should be seamless right? 

CD: It’s a difficult situation. He had a difficult season in the MLS and now he’s injured. There will be times when we both will be in camp and be able to work off each other. I think the future looks good as you can see in the first half where I thought we played some really good football. To lose 0:1 tonight is an unfair result, but that’s the way it goes. You have to look at the positives and get ready for our next training.

In the second half Juergen brought in a lot of experience: Spector, Michael. Is it just too hard to make the team to maintain the rhythm? 

CD: I don’t know, that’s a tough one. It’s a difficult task for a manager, because you have players, who played a lot of games, the players who you want to get a look, figure out what the best 11’s gonna be, give everybody a chance and at the same time you wanna do well and win the friendly so, it’s tough to find the balance, but we have to keep working on things and hopefully the results will start to come.

How good was it to have Gooch back? 

CD: I thought he came in and did a good job in the Honduras game and I thought he played well tonight. It’s good to see him bouncing back after such a tough injury. It showed he has a tough character mentally to keep fighting back and putting in good performances like he’s done.

text: Tomek Moczerniuk (email Tomek)
foto: Danny Blanik (email Danny)