Friedel shines as US beat Uruguay 2-1

An outstanding performancefrom Brad Friedel, the goalkeeper still fighting for his World Cup place, helped the United States hang on for a 2...

An outstanding performancefrom Brad Friedel, the goalkeeper still fighting for his World Cup place, helped the United States hang on for a 2-1 victory in a friendly against Uruguay on Sunday.

The Blackburn Rovers player, battling with Tottenham counterpart Kasey Keller to start in goal at the World Cup finals next month, produced a string of stunning saves to deny the South Americans in a frenetic finish. “Sometimes you stand around for the whole game.. and sometimes you are called upon to make saves throughout,” Friedel said. “Yes, I want to start in the World Cup, there is no secret to that. I’m going to work as hard as I can to do it.” But US coach Bruce Arena was guarded in his post-match media conference about whether Friedel had improved his chances.

Unimpressive Mexico beat Colombia

A Mexican holds onto Colombia’s Arley Dina’s shaven head to keep his balance during a friendly on Sunday. (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY: Mexico, fielding a total of 19 players, scrambled an unimpressive 2-1 win on Sunday over an experimental Colombian team in their last home match before the World Cup. Monaco defender Rafael Marquez scored the winner in the 75th minute, only seven minutes after coming on as a substitute, with a header after Cuauhtemoc Blanco had flicked on a free-kick taken by Gerardo Torrado.

Mexico gave few clues about their possible World Cup team as a number of players who would expect to start — including Blanco, Marquez, veteran Alberto Garcia Aspe and mid-fielder Gerardo Torrado — all began on the bench.

It was a lukewarm send-off with only around 50,000 people at the 110,000-capacity Azteca stadium, which staged the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals. Colombia, who failed to qualify for Japan and South Korea, were without any of their top foreign-based players such as striker Juan Pablo Angel, defenders Ivan Ramiro Cordoba and Jorge Bermudez, goalkeeper Oscar Cordoba and mid-fielders Mauricio Serna and Freddy Grisales.