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Q&A With Robbie Rogers and Chris Seitz
July 17, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - On July 16, four former Maryland men's soccer stars gave back to their local soccer community. Marc Burch and Domenic Mediate of DC United and Robbie Rogers and Chris Seitz, who just returned home from the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, held a question and answer session with children participating in Sasho Cirovski's Maryland Boys Soccer Camp. Following the Q&A, umterps.com caught up with Rogers and Seitz to discuss their experiences at the World Cup. Q: Why did you come back to the University of Maryland to do the question and answer session with the soccer camp? Seitz: "It's always a lot of fun doing something like this. Robbie and I were talking about how we could give back to Maryland, because without it, we couldn't have done any of this. We chose to come back here and talk, and it's been a good experience." Q: Overall, how was your experience at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup? Seitz: "Anytime you can represent your country is a great feeling. It was a really good experience for all of us to get out there and show what the U.S. has. A lot of people thought we didn't have much in soccer, but we showed that we are competitors, and at one point we were even called the favorites. So it was an interesting and good experience." Q: Robbie, how did this compare to your other international experiences? Q: How was it to be a part of the win against Brazil? Seitz: "It was the first time an American team had beaten a Brazilian team in a FIFA tournament since the 1989 U-17 world championship. It was a great feeling, because not only did we beat Brazil, but we won the group with that win. It was a great feeling for our whole team because our first goal was to get out of the group and we were able to come out on top." Q: Chris, how tough was it having to sit out in the game against Uruguay? Q: How does this help you with your confidence? Seitz: "You can't go into a situation like this thinking that you don't belong there. I always had confidence in myself. I always dreamt that I would play like that, so going out there and doing it was a good experience for me. Seeing Robbie play like that as well was great for him." Q: Overall how successful was the United States in the tournament? Seitz: "We talked about it as a group after the game. We were proud of what we did, but at the same time, we could have gone further. I think on a different day, the result could have gone to us. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, so it was a little disappointing, but at the same time we were proud of what we did." Rogers, a member of the Columbus Crew, dished out two assists in the FIFA U-20 World Cup. He has accumulated three starts in his first season in MLS and has appeared in five games, scoring a goal and an assist. In his only season in red and black, Rogers recorded seven goals and five assists to help the Terps to the 2005 national championship. Seitz, the No. 4 overall pick by Real Salt Lake in the MLS SuperDraft, was stellar in goal for the US during the World Cup. In the first game against Korea Republic, he was named the Sierra Mist Man of the Match after recording five saves. He stopped 14 shots in a thrilling 2-1 win against Brazil and racked up 32 saves in four matches, averaging eight per game. Seitz was the first freshman keeper to lead his team to the national championship since 1990 and left Maryland as the all-time career leader in goals against average at 0.77. Burch, who was acquired by DC United from Columbus in April, has appeared in three games. He has appeared in 13 games in his MLS career and has ntoched an assist. Burch played one season at Maryland in 2005 and finished with four goals and six assists. His most important goal was the game-winner in the 1-0 win against New Mexico in the national championship game. Mediate has appeared in one game this season for United after a injury-laden 2006 campaign with the club. In 2006, Mediate played in eight games and started two of them. In his rookie campaign, he appeared in 11 matches with four starts as he scored a goal and an assist. As a senior for the Terps, Mediate scored nine goals, including five game-winners, and dealt out nine assists. He ended his collegiate career with 27 goals and 17 assists.
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