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[Odler]

(Extracted from an Associated Press news item)

Bush, the former owner of baseball's Texas Rangers but a soccer novice, telephoned coach Bruce Arena at about 11 a.m. (10 p.m. EDT Sunday), 41/2 hours before the kickoff against Mexico. The players of the U.S team listened on a speaker phone.

"The country is really proud of the team," Bush said. "A lot of people that don't know anything about soccer, like me, are all excited and pulling for you."

"Mr. President, we know we represent the greatest country in the world," Arena told Bush. "We are going to give the kind of effort you and all America will be proud of."

"We were thinking -- which president?" Landon Donovan said. "That was awesome. You could tell he genuinely cared."

Few Mexicans even contemplated the possibility of defeat, despite the improvement of U.S. teams in recent years. Winning has become a near national obsession.

"We have to beat the United States," said Mexican President Vicente Fox said during his weekly Saturday radio program.

Mexico lost 2-0 to the U.S, in their first World Cup encounter. The U.S advances and will battle Germany on Friday for a spot among the final four.

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