U.S. Has Little Trouble With Canada
The United States, fielding only four of the players who helped it reach the quarterfinals of last year’s World Cup, made short work of Canada on Saturday with a 4-0 victory in front of 6,549 on a cool evening at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The outcome was not in doubt after former UCLA defender Carlos Bocanegra had given the U.S. the lead in the seventh minute when he headed a Bobby Convey corner kick past goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld.
Convey, a midfielder who normally plays on the wing, was being used as a left back for the first time by Coach Bruce Arena but adapted without to the new role without difficulty.
“He’s a kid who has the potential to play there, so we wanted to give him a look,” Arena said.
Clint Mathis, one of the four World Cup veterans along with DaMarcus Beasley, Landon Donovan and Pablo Mastroeni, doubled the Americans’ advantage in the 30th minute with his 11th goal in 27 games for the U.S., and Chris Klein added a goal 51 seconds later to provide the home team with a commanding lead by the half.
Steve Ralston made it 4-0 in the 61st minute, joining Bocanegra and Klein as each scored for the first time for the national team.
Donovan, who assisted on the goals by Mathis and Ralston, said the U.S. had accomplished what it wanted to do in its first game of 2003.
“We took them out of the game early on, and that’s what you want to do,” he said. “We have a lot of good young players on this team and they did well. Ben Olsen is back and playing very well, so that helps us, and Bobby [Convey] did a great job doing what he had to do to be on the field and contribute [in an unfamiliar position].”
Next for the U.S. are games against Argentina at the Orange Bowl in Miami on Feb. 8 and against Jamaica at Kingston on Feb. 12.
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Columbus Crew and U.S. national team striker Brian McBride, who scored less than 10 minutes into his English Premier League debut last weekend, Saturday notched both goals as Everton defeated Sunderland, 2-1, in Liverpool.
McBride, who is playing for Everton on loan from the Crew for three months, tied the score with an overhead kick in the 51st minute, then won it six minutes later with a low shot off a pass from Canadian international Tomasz Radzinski.
“His performance was excellent,” said Everton Coach David Moyes. “He gives you great honesty and commitment. It’s players like that who contribute to the team overall and win you matches.”
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The national teams of El Salvador and Guatemala, which tied, 0-0, in front of 6,000 at the Santa Ana Bowl on Friday night, face each other today at 4 p.m. at the Coliseum.
Even the presence for the full 90 minutes of high-scoring Galaxy striker Carlos Ruiz of Guatemala was not enough to break the deadlock Friday, despite the fact that El Salvador was reduced to nine men after the separate second-half expulsions of Gilberto Murgas and Ramiro Carballa.
