Reyna - mind games the key.

USA captain Claudio Reyna believes success on the pitch at this summer's World Cup depends entirely on his team's state of mind.

The Americans lost 2-0 to Holland on Sunday in Foxboro, with Roy Makaay and Andy van der Meyde netting.

While the Dutch failed to qualify for the upcoming finals, which start in 11 days, the US will be making their fourth successive appearance.

But Reyna concedes that the Europeans, losing semi-finalists at France 98, showed just how weaknesses can be exploited in the American team.

"The fine line is there can never be any mental lapses," he said.

"It's got to be concentration for 90 minutes. I think today it was a game where we concentrated for about 88 minutes, probably even a bit more.

"It was just 10 or 15 seconds here or there that gave them a couple chances. But that's the difference. Great players will punish you, and they did."

However, Reyna, who plays club football for Sunderland in the English Premiership, reckons defeat might strengthen the national team ahead of their opening World Cup matches against Portugal, co-hosts Korea and Poland.

"As much as nobody likes to lose, if perhaps we won people would have set high expectations for us, where in reality it was a good game for us," he told www.ussoccer.com, the US federation's website.

"It showed us exactly what we need to work on."