John Terry is the perfect skipper. It's obvious Chelsea means everything to him. When he makes those last ditch blocks, team-mates can't help but be inspired.

Like any sport, if you can clinch it sooner, clinch it sooner. It just makes the celebration that much sweeter.

The final true artform in what we're talking about is the goal itself. And for us to try and stop that from happening, we're kind of the anti-art.

We're not going to walk into the World Cup thinking, 'Ah, you know, we beat Norway 5-0 and we beat Japan so now we're great and we're untouchable'. It's a reality check for a few guys and that's a good thing at this time so it doesn't happen on June 12 (when the U.S. team opens World Cup play against the Czech Republic).

Maybe some guys were looking at that ranking a little bit too seriously.

That's what goalkeeping is all about. It's really having nothing to do at times, and then having to make sure you are concentrating and ready to make the save when called upon. Going in 1-0 down would have been a travesty.

Not just Mexico. Columbus should be the home of any big game. There's absolutely no doubt about that.To be able to play in front of a decidedly pro-American crowd for both Mexico games, and to win them both 2-0, is fantastic for everybody.