Postcards From Toulon Each day we will send out a postcard from one of the members of the U.S. Under-20 Men's National Team that is in Toulon, France, competing in the 29th Toulon Festival.

Today's postcard is from midfielder  ...
BRIAN CARROLL
Height: 5' 10"        Weight: 145
Born: July 20, 1981
Hometown: Springfield, Virginia
College: Wake Forest 

As a player you never like to lose, but I think we learned a lot from the match against Colombia. We could have started out a little bit faster and a little bit tougher, but overall I think it was a good performance for us. We showed that we can come back against anyone in the world. I thought we were going to come back and beat Colombia, but we made a few mistakes and it cost us. Hopefully we will be ready to take it to Holland tomorrow and we'll get ourselves into the next round. Colombia was a good team and no matter what I will take home with me a good experience from playing Colombia.

Knowing that we have to beat Holland to advance definitely puts a lot more pressure on us, but I think that is good for us. I think we match up better against the Netherlands than we did against Colombia. I think that if we take it to Holland right away at the beginning of the game and impose our game on them, then we shouldn't have any trouble. It will be a battle, but I think we'll be able to pull it out.

I think that where we are staying - Toulon - is a nice, quiet, quaint area. I like it here, and it helps that we've had good weather. There is not a whole lot to do outside of soccer, but that is not why we are here. We are here to move on to the semifinals, and then hopefully the finals. I think because of that it is a great place to hold this tournament.

The tournament so far has been unbelievable. The fields we have played at have been great, and the fans and the atmosphere at the matches are amazing. Now we just need to take care of business tomorrow so we can stay and play two more games here!

Brian

Brian Carroll has started the first two games for the U.S. at the Toulon Festival. He has played in all eight of the USA's first eight internationals in 2001.