US is sent off with a victory

EAST HARTFORD -- All they have to do now is encase 23 players in bubble wrap just in case somebody slips on the jetway while getting on the plane to Germany later this week. The US men's soccer team had a pleasant send-off soiree here yesterday evening, blanking crude but compliant Latvia, 1-0, before a jubilant holiday weekend crowd of 24,636 at Rentschler Field.

``I'm happy with the win," said coach Bruce Arena, whose squad was playing its third World Cup tuneup in six days. ``We were pushed to our limit physically. The awkward calendar made it tough on our team."

The Americans, who'd stifled Venezuela, 2-0, in Cleveland Friday after losing, 1-0, to Morocco in the 90th minute in Nashville Tuesday, wanted to head overseas on an up note. ``The loss against Morocco was a wake-up call for us," said goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

Last night, his teammates were wearing red throwback jerseys with a ``Don't Tread on Me" snake logo on the right sleeve. Not that they had much to fear from the 70th-ranked Latvians, who'd finished fifth in their European qualifying group for the Cup and hadn't played a match all year. For them, this was a see-where-we-are get-together before qualifying begins in September for the 2008 European championships.

Still, since the next US match is its Cup opener against the second-ranked Czech Republic two weeks from today, Arena fielded a close facsimile of what his starting lineup is likely to be in Gelsenkirchen. Brian McBride, who scored the winner in the 43d minute, and Eddie Johnson were the strikers. Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, John O'Brien, and Pablo Mastroeni were the midfielders. Eddie Pope, Eddie Lewis, Steve Cherundolo, and Jimmy Conrad manned the back line, and Keller was in goal.

The only two expected starters who did not play were midfielder Claudio Reyna, who tweaked his right hamstring against Morocco but should be fit for the Cup, and defender Oguchi Onyewu, who'd played all but 16 minutes of the last two matches. So the main objective was not so much winning as avoiding any further injuries. Arena already had replaced two of his original defenders, bringing in Chris Albright for Frankie Hejduk (torn ACL) and Gregg Berhalter for Cory Gibbs (knee injury). He didn't need any more missing persons on the eve of the biggest US match in four years.

For an anxious moment 18 minutes in, after McBride was brutally head-butted by defender Deniss Ivanovs, it looked as if the Yanks' main man up front might suffer a TKO after a lump the size of a Titleist quickly appeared above his left eye. ``For McBride, that's nothing," cracked Arena. ``He's had a lot worse."

The 33-year-old McBride, who has shaken off more shots to the head and face during his career than Rocky Balboa, stayed on the field and put his mates on the board with a deft header off Cherundolo's cross from the right wing, putting the ball off the hand of keeper Aleksandrs Kolinko.

McBride's goal was the payoff for a half's worth of aggressiveness, as the Americans kept attacking against a slower side that kept 10 men behind the ball. ``We'd talked about getting more crosses," said McBride, who scored his first goal in a US jersey since his winner here against Trinidad & Tobago in last August's World Cup qualifier. ``The service tonight was great."

But as the clock ticked down to the final half-hour and the Latvians began coming forward, the hosts grew casual and gave them two easy, but unfinished, chances in close. The carelessness brought a sharp rebuke from Keller (who made a diving save off Girts Karlsons in the 90th minute) to his defenders.

It might have been a festive Sunday send-off, complete with a postmatch fireworks display, but if the Americans want to survive overseas next month, they'll need to be airtight. ``The challenges are great in this group," observed Arena, whose squad also plays three-time champion Italy and Ghana.

Last night, though, the send-off mission was accomplished -- a W and 23 reasonably sound bodies with plane tickets. ``All the talking's done," Arena said. ``We'll have to step on the field June 12 and show what we're about."

The Revolution's Clint Dempsey (sore back) did not dress for the US.