USA midfielder DaMarcus Beasley is confident his game has improved markedly since he was a member of the squad that went to the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.

Beasley is approaching this third World Cup and although he believes he has gotten a lot better as a player, he feels he now has to work harder to set a good example to those competing on the world's biggest stage for the first time.

"I think I've just grown as a player. You want to improve your game; in '02 I was just raw," he said.

"I was just a kid, I was fearless, had no worries in the world, just having fun being on the field and playing football every day. But now you've got younger guys coming up, like I was in '02, so I've got to work even harder both on and off the pitch.

"So you need to be more mentally strong, and I think that's one area where my game has gotten better. I had a tough year last year, and I never thought I would be able to be in this position, but it's great that I'm here and I think I've worked hard to get here."

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