Arena revels in victory

United States coach Bruce Arena described it as a ‘‘great day for US soccer’’ after his side reached the last eight of the World Cup for the first time in 72 years.

Brian McBride and Landon Donovan scored a goal in each half as they beat ill-disciplined Mexico 2-0 in Jeonju.

‘‘They gave a great effort and our veterans did a great job,’’ said Arena.

‘‘Claudio Reyna played a position he’s not used to and we came through big.

‘‘I’m proud of my guys and it is a great day for US soccer.’’

The Mexicans lost their cool after conceding the second in the 65th minute, with captain Rafael Marquez sent off two minutes from time for a wild lunge with his head at Cobi Jones.

But Arena played it down and several other bad challenges by their neighbours.

‘‘It is the rivalry, we know each other,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s been a lot of bad blood over the years but when the game is over, we are friends again.’’

Arena denied that Mexico had produced little opposition to the US today.

‘‘Mexico are a great team who were just a few minutes away from qualifying from the group with three wins, so this was an impressive victory,’’ he said.

‘‘It was a hard-fought match and we were coming off a disappointing defeat last time out against Poland.

‘‘There was only a short rest period to get our guys ready and come up with a game plan that would last over 90 minutes.

‘‘I thought our guys executed it perfectly against a great Mexican side who have impressed at the World Cup so far.’’

The USA last got this far in the World Cup in 1930 when they reached the semi-final in the inaugural competition.

And the only other time they have been past the first round was on home soil in 1994.

Arena believes they deserve their place in the quarter-finals, where they will face Germany.

‘‘We beat the group winners in a group with Italy, we beat one of the top five teams in the world in the opening game and we were the only ones to get a point off Korea,’’ he said.

‘‘We have had some impressive results at this World Cup so far and we have now proved that we have a good team.

‘‘Now we have another of the top teams in the world in Germany on Friday.’’