lot from their 2-0 defeat against a strong DC United team last night.

The Manchester City star said his team-mates now needed to sit down and reflect on the match and what they could learn from the Washington team.

"At times, it showed how far we need to progress as a country and as players,'' said Goater.

"I hope we learned something because that's the only way we will progress.

It's no good playing quality opposition if we're not going to learn from it.

"It's good we're playing teams as strong as this. It showed that it's the simple things we need to improve on'' But Goater was also encouraged by a first half in which he and fellow English club professional, Stoke's Kyle Lightbourne, linked well.

"The English game is about flicking on and getting on the end of things and the wind helped us to do that and that's how we created a few chances,'' added Goater.

Coach Robert Calderon, in charge of the team in the absence of Clyde Best, felt his players would learn a few basic footballing lessons from the MLS team, who had them chasing shadows in the second half.

"I hope they will have learned that if you don't keep possession of the ball against a good team, then it's going to take a long time to get it back,'' he said.

"And if you make mistakes in key areas you get punished -- and we got caught twice. We have to work a lot harder in possession and hold onto the ball long enough to link with our strikers.

"But I'm not disappointed at all. I expected us to have a tough time and we did, but there is nothing for us to hang our heads about.

"You don't improve by playing teams at your level or inferior teams -- you have to play quality opposition.'' Lightbourne limped off late in the game, but only as a precaution he admitted afterwards.

"I felt a little twitch and I felt it would be best to come off as a precaution. I've got an important game for Stoke on Saturday and I want to be involved,'' he said.

"They were a very strong team on the ball but I don't think they liked the physical side too much. With a little bit more time together, maybe we could have given them a better game.'' DC United coach Thomas Rongen was delighted with the workout for his team, who travel to New York MetroStars on Saturday.

"You never know when you go away somewhere what to expect. But the training facilities were excellent and the opponents gave us just what we wanted -- a good competitive game.

"Both teams understood perfectly the goal of this game -- to prepare for the future -- and both teams got the workout they wanted.''