Quaranta And Holden Looking Forward To Panama Challenge

After cruising through the group stages of the 2009 Gold Cup the U.S. Men’s National Team now has a tough draw in the knockout rounds. The Red White and Blue will face Panama, a team with a lot of history in the Gold Cup who already collected a draw with Mexico in the group stage.

One of the lesser known players Bob Bradley has relied on during the competition is 24-year-old midfielder Santino Quaranta, who broke the deadlock with Honduras in the U.S.’s second group match, and the D.C. United star knows that the U.S. is in for a battle.

“It's a good opportunity for a lot of the young guys and we know Panama is going to be a challenge,” he said. “In 2005, they played in the final. In 2007, they played in the quarterfinal. So they're a very dangerous team and we have a lot of respect for them.”

Quaranta also noted that Panama has a very veteran team that has plenty of experience with playing with each other.

“They've been together for a long time,” the midfielder said. “They're a good team. They're very fast and athletic and we're looking forward to the challenge.”

As for his own team, the D.C. man doesn’t think that Bob Bradley’s decision to leave his first choice squad at home makes the U.S. and underdog.

“I wouldn't say we're underdogs,” Quaranta said. “I haven't played on a team that works as hard for each other as this team we just want to go out and we want to work for each other and put in a good performance, win, lose or draw. Obviously, it's not the first team. That was in South Africa. It's a challenge for us to win this - it was a challenge for the first team to win it, too. I know we're looking forward to it.” 

Another one of Bradley’s young stars, midfielder Stuart Holden, thinks that the added practice time this week will prove to be a big benefit for the U.S., and that the team is focused on putting their final group game, a 2-2 draw with Haiti, behind them.

“This is the most practicing that we've been able to do,” Holden said. “To get almost a full week of training under our belts has been very beneficial and we've been able to work on a couple of things tactically and build a little more cohesiveness in the group. Hopefully, it pays dividends in the game against Panama. 

“We're more focused on putting that (Haiti) game behind us and focusing on this game on Saturday against Panama. We learned a couple of lessons in that game, that we need to start off the halves strong and be focused mentally and physically. But once we put that game behind us, we focused on Panama and I think everybody is really happy to get back on that field.”

Allen Ramsey, Goal.com

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