photo by Howard C. Smith/ISIphotos.com
By FRANCO PANIZO
One day after playing against Brazil, U.S. national team players Alejandro Bedoya and Herculez Gomez were busy working out together, but it wasn't while playing soccer.
Bedoya and Gomez were taking part in Gatorade performance testing on Wednesday morning, just hours before their flights back to their respective club teams. Following the testing at the Gatorade Performance Lab in New York City, the two players sat down with media to reflect on Tuesday night's friendly and their individual performances.
"I saw tired legs. I saw pre-season legs," said Gomez. "I saw a team that the vast majority of the players are just starting (to play again) just this week, and let's give credit where credits due. I saw a very hungry, very good, very young Brazil team. For my money, I would take that team over the World Cup team."
Bedoya, who earned his first start in his fourth cap in front of friends and family at New Meadowlands Stadium, admitted the match was a tough one to start considering the opponents
"People can talk what they want to say and say 'Brazil is so young and inexperienced and this and that' but they don't realize that these guys, like Neymar and Ganso, are already big time players," said Bedoya. "They are going to be sold to Real Madrids and are at big clubs already."
Bedoya, who revealed he asked to be subbed off due to his heel hurting him, also agreed with Gomez's assessment that the single-fixture date coming during pre-season with just one training session made it difficult on the team.
"People coming in in pre-season, they're tired," said Bedoya. "For me I was still jet-lagged. I wasn't able to sleep right all night. I was waking up at three, four in the morning. It was just tough sleeping."
The New Jersey native thinks his lack of experience at the international level also played a factor in his subpar performance against the Selecao.
"It just comes down to experience on my part," said Bedoya. "Like I said, people can say what they want. It's my first start and I'm not as comfortable as I should be."
Bedoya and Gomez had to look past the national team's disappointing performance behind them as they focused on the Gatorade testing on Wednesday. Both players went through tests that included a measurement of lean muscle mass versus fat mass, a 30-minute cycling session and an estimation of fluid loss following the exercise.
"Sports training, people think it is just kicking a ball and running an exertion and exercise, but there's so much more that goes to it," Gomez said. "There's actually lots of sports science, so it is interesting to see the nutritional side of things and how that can help."
