Hungarians Handle U.S. in Soccer, 2-0

Tamas Petres and Zsolt Limperger scored as Hungary beat the United States, 2-0, tonight in a one-sided game that showed how much the Americans need to improve before the World Cup.

The Hungarians outplayed the Americans throughout the evening and dominated the action, just missing several other goals.

The hosts used their superior quickness and ball-handling skills to overpower an American team playing its first game in Europe since qualifying for the World Cup finals, which begin June 8 in Italy.

As 15,000 fans triumphantly waved red-white-and-green flags, the young Hungarian team kept the ball for long stretches in the American half of the field and took advantage of U.S. sloppiness.

The Hungarians, six of whom were playing their first game for the national team, easily could have won by five or six goals. One Hungarian shot went off the crossbar and another off the goal post, and several other chances went astray in front of U.S. goalie Tony Meola.

Petres, playing in his first international game, took a pass from Robert Jovan six minutes before halftime and scored the first goal from right in front of Meola.

Limperger, who like Petres is 21, scored the other goal midway through the second half from 15 yards out after U.S. defender John Stollmeyer mistimed a header and the ball rolled free to Limperger.

The lackluster U.S. offense, which scored only six goals in eight World Cup qualifying matches last year, did not get a shot on goal until the 35th minute of the game and showed little spark throughout the contest.

The best scoring chance for the Americans came with six minutes remaining when Peter Vermes, who played last year in Raba Eto, Hungary, slammed a free kick that forced a diving save by Hungarian goalie Istvan Brockhauser.

The game was the first of two games the U.S. team is playing in Eastern Europe to prepare for the World Cup finals.