From the Inside Out - with Brad Guzan

Things are going all right, I would say. I think everyone now, for the most part, is completely adjusted to the time. Maybe there are only a few left who are struggling to sleep. Thankfully, I'm not one of them. The first night was definitely rough though. I was up at 4 am and couldn't fall back asleep for the life of me. That was the first time I had been down to a breakfast team meal before anybody else.

From the first moment when we stepped off the plane until now, the people have been great. We experienced that when we were here in 2007 and we're here for a few weeks and it's exciting to see the passion that everyone in this country has for the game and also to have us here.

This tournament decides the champion of champions, so to speak. It's pretty exciting to be here and be a part of that. The guys are definitely excited. Our approach to it is no different from any other game and we know that each match in our group is big for us. Some people will look at our group and say "The U.S. doesn't have a chance," but we're confident in our abilities. We got to be here because of our win in the 2007 Gold Cup and for that tournament I was the third goalkeeper behind Timmy and Kasey. I remember we had an MLS game with Chivas on a Thursday night and I played in that before flying to Chicago for the final. I was in a suite with Frankie Hejduk and some other guys watching and cheering for everybody on the field. As the final whistle blew we were running through Soldier Field to try to get down on the field to
celebrate the guys. It was a cool experience and an unbelievable feeling to have that adrenaline rush. You're up there and you're cheering and it was a nail-biter. I was happy just to be a part of it and now I'm excited to be here.

Any time you go into a long stretch where it's just training and then all of a sudden there's a game around the corner, there gets to be a buzz about the team and there's excitement. There's an attitude where we know things are right around the corner and we have to get ready
for it.

Now that we've got the travel out of us it's time to focus more towards the game and how we want to perform in the tournament as a team. Off the field, mentally we're starting to get more prepared and we know that the game against Italy is coming quick. As a backup keeper you always have to approach each game as if something's going to happen. You always have to be ready because the last thing you want is to go in unfocused and not ready to perform. I
go out and train hard every day and try to push Timmy to make sure he's prepared as well as myself. Come game time we all want to be firing on all cylinders.