(CNN) -- American striker Clint Dempsey says the U.S. team has drawn confidence from impressive performances against Brazil, Spain and England but says Friday's World Cup clash with Slovenia is a match his side cannot afford to lose.
Dempsey struck the lucky shot which slipped through England goalkeeper Robert Green's hands to earn a 1-1 draw for the U.S. in its opening game of the World Cup last Saturday in South Africa.
But the Americans played well to avoid defeat against one of the World Cup's most highly fancied teams and Dempsey said the experience of reaching last year's Confederations Cup final had given the American players the confidence to compete with the competition's best sides.
The U.S. team beat European champions Spain 2-0 in the semifinals of that tournament and led Brazil by two goals in the final before going down 3-2 to a late winner.
"Before the game (against England), we knew that if we played our best, we would get a result out of the game and we did that at the Confederations Cup playing against the top teams," Dempsey told CNN.
