None of the USA's three Gold Cup opponents in Group B won in friendly
games played over the weekend.
Guatemala played to a
0-0 tie at Barbados on Sunday before heading to Frsico, Texas, where it
faces the USA in a friendly on Wednesday night. FC Dallas star Carlos
Ruiz was with his MLS club for MLS-USL Challenge in Puerto Rico
but
joined Guatemala for Wednesday's game upon his return to Dallas.
Guatemala lineup: Trigueno,
Martinez (Albizuris, 64), Melgar, Medina, Cabrera, Figueroa (Avila,
64),
Noriega (Quinonez 64), Thompson, Contreras (De Mata, 73), Mario
Rodriguez (Villatoro, 80), Pezzarossi.
Trinidad & Tobago was held to a 2-2 tie at Guadeloupe on Saturday.
The only Soca Warriors World Cup player in camp, Densill Theobald,
went down with a knee injury and did not play. T&T players only
recently returned to action after the national team program was
suspended for two weeks due to a lack of funding. The T&T
government stepped in late last week and pledged $3.6 million for the
T&T federation.
Trinidad & Tobago lineup:
Phillip, D.Jack, Power, Daniel, C.Baptiste, Noel, Nickelson. K.Baptiste
(Spann, 81), Aguillera, Toussaint, Glasgow (Clarence, 64).
El Salvador was shut out for the fourth straight game as it fell to
Honduras, 2-0, before more than 17,000 fans at Lockhart Stadium in Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla. El Salvador's Mexican coach, Carlos de los Cobos, said
he was satisfied with the play of last-minute callup Ronald Cerritos, the former MLS star
who now plays for San Salvador. Carlos
Menjivar,
who was born and raised in Northern California and played at San Diego
State before moving to El Salvador to play professional soccer in 2002,
started in midfield. El Salvador, which was missing
several starters unable to enter the United States because of visa
problems, faces Honduras again Tuesday night in Cary, N.C.
El Salvador lineup: Gomez,
Salazar, Henriquez, Escobar, Carballo, Alas (Torres, 75), Menjivar,
Sanchez (Martinez, 75), Cerritos, Quintanilla, Campos.
Besides USA-Guatemala and El Salvador-Honduras, a third friendly game
will be played in the United States this week. Mexico faces Ecuador at
sold-out McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday. Mexico beat
Paraguay, 2-1, thanks to a pair of late Jared Borgetti goals in Monterrey on
Sunday.
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES (Gold Cup
Finalists)
March 24
Costa Rica 4 (Saborio 7, pen. 80, Solis 18, Ruiz 57) New Zealand
0.
Guadeloupe 2 (Bematol 16, 41) Trinidad
& Tobago 2 (C.Baptiste 47, Toussaint 62).
Haiti 3 (Cadet 28, Brunel 53, Saint-Jean 86) Panama 0.
Honduras 2 Oliva 26,
66) El Salvador 0.
Venezuela 3 (Arango 11, Torrealba 33, Gonzalez 64) Cuba 1 (Alcantara 47).
March 25
Barbados 0 Guatemala 0.
Bermuda 0 Canada 3 (Hutchinson
25, Radzinski 30, Stalteri 44).
Mexico 2 (Borgetti 77, 81)
Paraguay 1 (Santa Cruz 89).
USA 3 (Donovan 1, 66, 67)
Ecuador 1 (Caicedo 11).

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