Ben Olsen
Ben Olsen
Benjamin Robert "Ben" Olsenis an American former professional soccer player and the current head coach of D.C. United. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Olsen grew up playing for FC Delco, an elite club program near Philadelphia. He later attended the University of Virginia, when he was named 1997 Soccer America Player of the Year...
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth3 May 1977
CityHarrisburg, PA
focus guilty maybe move nowhere playoffs tough
Sometimes it's tough when you are already in the playoffs and there is nowhere to move up or down to maybe focus as much. I think we were guilty of that tonight.
behind cup given goal nice opportunity others stayed tough
The realization right now is that we have one cup to play for. All the others are gone, and we've had some tough losses, but they're completely behind us. It's unfortunate and fortunate. It would've been nice to have stayed in those tournaments but it has also given us the opportunity to have one goal in sight.
games hard losing ourselves shooting teams tough turn winning
The frustrating part is that we are losing these games -- I don't necessarily think these teams are winning them. We're just shooting ourselves in the foot, over and over. These are tough times and I know we're going to turn it around, but it's hard right now.
biggest deal early good success
It's still early, and being in first place right now isn't the biggest deal in the world. But it is the two first-place teams. We know they've had some early success and they're a good team, as good as they come right now -- and I think they know we're as good as it comes right now.
belong cup prove
Everybody's here to prove that they belong on the World Cup team.
biggest deal goals guys kept league remind
I kept having to remind the guys that I had scored goals in this league before, ... They all thought it was the biggest deal in the world for me.
bubble fill gets guy healthy injury knows needs obviously people realistic several spots trouble trying
I'm trying to be realistic about this thing and I'm obviously a bubble player. Where I am on that bubble is up to Bruce. If people don't get healthy and he needs a guy who can play in several positions, he knows I can fill in those spots if he gets into injury trouble with the other guys.
far freddy learned maybe
It's done as far as I'm concerned. Freddy maybe learned a lesson. He said some stuff, he got punished, and now it's done.
game help nerves nervous yes
Yes, yes a lot. I was probably more nervous for this game than I have been in a long time. Nerves help sometimes, though.
certainly heads hopefully opportunity turn
This year, he's going to hopefully turn some heads and give us a lot more. His opportunity to play will certainly be more, and that's key.
decisions facing game hard lessons manage overtime sudden wrong
The way we manage the game has to be better. Those were some hard lessons -- hard ones to swallow. When you do something wrong at this level, all of a sudden you're in overtime and facing PKs down a man. Some of the decisions we made were not good; it's that simple.
bet national people
I bet a lot of people didn't think I would be back on the national team.
deals high learn lessons move punished school teacher
My girlfriend's a high school teacher and she told me it's just like a 16-year-old, ... She deals with them every day. They say things and they spout off and then they get punished and they learn lessons or they don't learn lessons. He got punished and now we move on.
beat beautiful maybe passion rivalry side stuff team
It's just D.C.-MetroStars stuff -- that's how they all are and that's how it's going to be. That's the beautiful side of a rivalry -- it's heated, there's passion and maybe you want to beat them more than another team because it's such a heated rivalry.