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I thought it was going in
Defender Brian Dunseth is the captain of the U.S. men's Olympic soccer team, which headed Down Under and did what no other men's team had ever done: make it out of the first round alive. Dunseth, 23, left Cal. St. Fullerton early to join Major League Soccer and the New England Revolution, where he has now played four seasons. The U.S. will play for the bronze medal on Friday against Chile.
October 1, 2000
How did it feel to finally get on the field? Did you feel any rustiness or lingering effects from the injury? After Chad McCarty got his second yellow against Spain, I knew that I would be playing against Chile, and the leading scorer of the tournament in Inter Milan's Ivan Zamorano. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried, not only about maybe not making it through the game, but my fitness as well as maybe being a little rusty since I hadn't played a full 90 minutes since my time in Boston. But that all went away when I walked out on the field and saw the fans, the scoreboard and knew that I was going to play for the bronze medal. Describe your near fairy-tale ending with your left-footed half-volley in the second half against Chile. Did you think it was going in? When Zamorano let me first make a near post run unmarked, then let me go past him back post, I was surprised. I tried to get to the back post to look for the flick on, and then the ball just fell in front of me. I saw the goalie had committed himself across and then wanted to go back across his body to the far post. I thought it was going in when I hit it, but it kept rising and then hit the crossbar. The frustrating part of it was that if I made that shot, when the game was scoreless, the entire ending to the game would have been different. What will you remember most about your Olympic experience? I'll take home the memory of being around these guys for four years now, sweating and bleeding and accomplishing what we went out to do. It's hard to swallow because we were so close to medaling, but when it's all said and done, we've done something huge. What will you focus on now, with the Revolution out of the MLS playoffs? Any plans for the offseason? My focus now will be getting healthy first off, then trying to strengthen everything. It's been a tough season and now i just need to relax and try to get my body back. Will you take part in the Closing Ceremonies? I'm actually heading out to the Closing Ceremonies in about two hours, so even though we weren't able to go to Opening Ceremonies, at least we can still experience the closing. A couple of the guys along with myself have decided to stay an extra four days to get the "Australian experience." --Brian
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