00:12It's tough to compare. You know what I mean? Because we didn't have a league. Most of us were amateur.
00:17Most of us came out of college. Most of us trained for a year and a half because no one
00:21in the world would take a chance on an American back then.
00:24So the expectations were not super high. You know what I mean? So then we get out of the group.
00:33We beat Columbia. Expectations got a little higher. MLS starts. Expectations got even higher because now we're developing players that
00:40are going to Europe.
00:41I mean, you're talking about West Virginia. You're talking about guys who have started and their careers somehow started in
00:46MLS and doing the academies. So now, do they have pressure? It's not to play a championship. They're playing Europe.
00:53They're playing all over the place. So the only pressure you have now is to represent your country, which is
00:59always difficult, but to have fun.
01:05They have to go out. They have to do their job. Are we an underdog? By no means are we
01:11an underdog? And I hate that people call us Americans. And why? We're the top-seeded team in that group.
01:15If you look at the FIFA rankings, we're the top seed out of that group. So why are we underdogs?
01:19I think we've got to stop downplaying it. We've grown so much in 30-plus years that now, if we
01:25don't make the quarterfinal, it's going to be disappointing.
01:27For us, it's going to be very disappointing because these guys are good enough. We've got a world-class coach.
01:34We've been all over the world. Coaches are some of the best players in the world.
01:37So expectations laid right out there. We've been talking about this for the last year, quarterfinals.
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