Russia draw shows US guts: Diskerud

Krasnodar (Russia), Nov 15 (IANS/RIA Novosti):

The scorer of the United States’ last-gasp equaliser in their 2-2 draw against Russia said the result shows true American guts.

Mix Diskerud struck a deflected volley from the edge of the box to give the US a share of the spoils three minutes into injury time here.

“It’s the American mentality, you never give up. We were hoping for that last goal. When they scored at the end, a lot of teams would just give up, but we didn’t and it paid off,” he said, adding that the 84th-minute penalty goal to Russia would have knocked the stuffing out of many teams.

Diskerud said the play that led to his first international goal was as simple as they come.

“Long ball, hoping with all my heart that the ball’s going to come back to me and one strike so the ball goes in and it’s nice,” he said. The draw showed the US’s ability to take the fight to more illustrious opponents, he said.

“We just want to keep this level of playing. We can better and win these games because we’ve shown that we can play big games against big opponents,” he said.

The draw extended the US’s unbeaten run to nine games since a 1-4 thrashing at the hands of Brazil in May.

The Oslo-born Diskerud plays his club football for Rosenborg in Norway where he grew up, and earned his third cap Wednesday.