US national team coach Bob Bradley was part of a conference call today, talking about the USA-Granada game Saturday at Qwest Field, which starts the U.S. defense of the CONCACAF Gold Cup title. (Some of this is also covered in my story in the Friday paper.)

Here's Bradley's answer to my question about Seattle as the site and the Fourth of July as the date:

“To answer the second part first, it is always special to hear the National Anthem and I think on the Fourth of July there’s a little bit extra there. We are excited to be opening up the Gold Cup; the fact that it’s in Seattle is great in many ways, but as an organization they have done a tremendous job of getting themselves going on the right foot. Their team is very good, fun to watch, I think anybody who has seen any of their games, whether live at Qwest Field or on TV can see the passion their fans have for the team. You see jerseys all over the city. I mentioned earlier that the training facility is first class. They deserve credit for how they went about bringing their team into the league, and I think it’s great that we’re beginning the Gold Cup here.”

Bradley also was asked asked about Sounders midfielder Brad Evans, who has been called in to the national team:

“Brad is a player that had a good season in Columbus last year and I think has really been an important part of Seattle’s success throughout the first part of this season. He’s a very good competitor, he’s athletic, and we also know that he’s had some experience in the past with our Under-20 team. So, I think it’s a very good time to assess him in the group, and, so far in training it’s just what you expect. He works very hard, has a great attitude and now we’ll have a chance going forward in this tournament to see more.”