Joaquin, Spain coach
The first match is always very important because it can often affect the rest of your tournament. Winning gives the squad confidence, particularly in a competition as difficult as this one. Outside of the Brazil game, the four matches today showed that there is a very high standard and the gap between the teams has really shrunk.

Roberto Ceciliano, USA coach
Up until we pulled back to 4-4, the match had been very tight. At that point, the game could have gone either way. Unfortunately, we made some mistakes in the third period and when one of our players was sent off, it really threw us. I don't think that the result is a true reflection of the match we played.

Nico, Spain player
The team got better and better as the match wore on. We picked up our game but it was quite a surprise when they came back to make it 4-4. In the end, we showed real character and took the chances that came along to get back into the lead and grab a well earned victory.

Jevin Albuquerque, USA player
We could have won this match but we made too many mistakes, particularly in the final period. Against a team as strong as Spain, you can't afford any errors. Now we're fully focused on the match against Iran and I hope that we'll take the lessons on board from today's game.