Jeff Cunningham catapulted himself into the running for a spot on next summer's 23-man World Cup roster with a well-taken goal and a few promising forays for an otherwise blunt U.S. offense. The 33-year-old looked especially good in comparison to Jozy Altidore and sub Eddie Johnson.

Most disappointing was veteran right back Frankie Hejduk, whose game was marked by sloppy fouls, giveaways and bad positioning - while contributing nothing to the offense.

Edgar Castillo played it safe in his debut. In the half-hour he had on the field, as a left midfielder, Castillo limited himself to accurate one-touch passes when the bolder movements down the wing were needed. Indeed, it was an unremarkable performance by the U.S. midfielders, none of whom took the initiative to penetrate the Danish defensive.

Benny Feilhaber's long-range shot early in the first half forced a decent save from Danish keeper Thomas Sorensen.

Denmark 3 USA 1
U.S. PLAYER RATINGS
GRADE PLAYER (CLUB) GP/G
STARTERS:
4 Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/ENG) 15/-
2 Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew) 85/7
3 Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes/FRA) 76/11
4 Jonathan Spector (West Ham/ENG) 23/0
5 Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA) 25/2
5 Stuart Holden (Houston) 11/2
4 Michael Bradley (Bor. M'gladbach)/GER) 40/7
4 Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo) 27/2
6 Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus/DEN) 30/2
3 Jozy Altidore (Hull City/ENG) 23/8
7 Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas) 12/1
SUBSTITUTES:
5 Edgar Castillo (Tigres/MEX) 1/0
3 Eddie Johnson (Fulham/ENG) 39/12
5 Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew) 9/1
5 Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City) 27/1
5 Clarence Goodson (IK Start/NOR) 9/1
nr Dax McCarty (FC Dallas) 2/0