U.S.A. 1 - Guatemala 0

It was the same physical atmosphere as the friendly deadlock they had earlier this year, but the U.S. got their goal early and held on despite Oguchi Onyewu's sending off with 20 minutes to go. Clint Dempsey finished a nice Taylor Twellman cutback after he caught Guatemala's central defender Melgar sleeping. Landon Donovan, fresh off his 6-0 drubbing of Drew Carey, had a decent game creating chances and taking men on, but the game was really a tale of two halves. One organized and creative soccer, the other physical and scrappy as all hell. The youngsters, Bradley and Feilhaber, in the middle were effective but with some glaring mistakes at times. That is to be expected. An in-depth look at the game tomorrow, ratings and all.


One thing to say though: Pineda, the ref, (and I normally never comment on officiating) was inconsistent and abnormally selective...I don't like him.

Photo Courtesy of Trent Davol, International Sports Images on USSOCCER.com