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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 5:19 p.m., Wednesday, March 28, 2007

U.S., Guatemala tie in exhibition men's soccer game

Associated Press

FRISCO, Texas — The U.S. soccer team's perfect run under interim coach Bob Bradley ended with a 0-0 tie against Guatemala in an exhibition game tonight.

The Americans had won their first three matches after Bradley replaced Bruce Arena in December. Bradley hopes to get the full-time job with the U.S. team, which is now off until June.

Goalkeeper Kasey Keller, playing with the national team for the first time since the World Cup, was hardly tested by the Guatemalans, the opening opponent for the Americans in the first round of June's CONCACAF Gold Cup, the championship of soccer's North and Central American and Caribbean region.

Clint Dempsey set up several scoring chances in the second half, most notably in the 62nd minute when his pass found an open Justin Mapp in the top corner of the box. Mapp's shot went wide of the far post.

About a minute earlier, Jonathan Spector had an open look from nearly the same spot, but he sent a weak dribbler wide of the net.

Dempsey nearly scored in the 78th minute. He beat goalkeeper Ricardo Trigueno to a Frank Simek cross, but his header was cleared off the line by Pablo Melgar.

Guatemala's best chance came in the 43rd minute when Carlos Ruiz, an FC Dallas player working on his home field, sent a volley straight down into the turf. It bounced high, coming down on top of the net.

The Americans had two solid scoring chances in the first half, the first on a combination from Dempsey to Landon Donovan to Eddie Johnson, whose shot from 15 yards out went straight to Trigueno.

The other U.S. chance came in the 35th minute, when Trigueno saved Dempsey's diving header off a Donovan free kick.

Hale'iwa's Brian Ching, a forward for the U.S. team, did not play.