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CNN Live Today

U.S. Soccer Team Advances to Second Round of World Cup

Aired June 14, 2002 - 14:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to other sports news, let's talk about World Cup soccer, where the U.S. team lost to Poland today, but still advances to the second round of the World Cup competition. This is due in part to the structure of this round-robin competition. The U.S. will play Mexico now on Monday. CNN's Terry Baddoo spoke with some of the American players.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TERRY BADDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The U.S.A. played its get-out- of-jail-free card in the last round of matches in Group D, losing 3-1 to Poland, but still going through at the expense of Portugal, by a single point.

LANDON DONOVAN, U.S. SOCCER TEAM: The 70-something minute, I think, I heard the crowd go crazy for no reason. I just figured Korea must have scored. And then I heard our U.S. fans chanting U.S.A.- Korea, U.S.A.-Korea, so I figured -- I didn't want to get too high, but I knew Portugal could have equalized. But it was a good feeling at that point.

BADDOO: What was the feeling like when you came off the pitch and you found out the score, and you knew you were in the second round?

DONOVAN: Yes, I looked over just before the end of the game and I saw our teammates giving high-fives and looking pretty happy. And I wasn't sure, you know, so I was asking the guys, it was like, you know, good? Are we in? They said yes, for sure.

And it's kind of bittersweet. You're mad that you lost the game, but overall, we're excited.

BADDOO: Next up is Mexico for you. You're very familiar with each other. What sort of a game do you think that will be?

TONY SANNEH, U.S. SOCCER TEAM: We don't like each other much. We're rivalries, and it's a good match-up for us because we've beaten them before, so we know we can beat them. And we're confident, and we'll see what happens.

BADDOO: Now, before the tournament, you told people the second round was your goal. How much satisfaction is it to be there? And also, now do you feel that anything is possible? SANNEH: Well, from the beginning we thought anything was possible. But, you know, we didn't want to say we wanted to win the whole thing. We wanted to take baby steps and make one goal. And now we have another goal, is to beat Mexico.

We're delighted that we're here. We're a little disappointed at the way it happened, because we lost momentum.

BADDOO: Luck as much as judgment seeing the U.S.A. through to the second round, then. But after finishing as the worst team in the tournament back in 1998, they'll take it any way they can get it. At the World Cup in Seoul, I'm Terry Baddoo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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