Tim Howard says he agrees with USA boss Jurgen Klinsmann's call for the players to become 'nastier' and more aggressive.
The German made the comment after his side lost 4-1 to Brazil last week, stating that he feels his team could become a bit tougher and show a bit more gamesmanship (by persuading the referee to make calls their way), which Everton goalkeeper Howard has concurred with.
"That needed to probably start earlier on. We probably needed to try to impose that will and then turn it into a scrap earlier than we did. Yeah, I agree with that.""We ruffled their feathers on some really good, clean, hard plays and I agree with him in the fact that maybe we need to do that from the opening whistle and stamp our authority on the game," Howard said. "I understand what he's saying.
But US star Landon Donovan does not feel that making the most of things on the pitch in regards to winning free-kicks is in the make-up of American players.
"It's not really in our character as Americans," Donovan told MLSsoccer.com. "We try to play the game fair. We don't really dive. We don't do those kind of things."