Landon Donovan



The sellout crowd belonged to Mexico.

The game went to the United States, as usual.

Jimmy Conrad scored his first international goal, Landon Donovan converted a late breakaway and the Americans defeated Mexico 2-0 in an exhibition Wednesday night, extending the dominance of their regional rival.

"We've clearly done well. I think mentally we do have an edge," Donovan said. "But we were also a little bit lucky."

Playing in front of a heavily pro-Mexican sellout crowd of 64,462, the Americans improved to 8-2-1 against Mexico since 2000. The United States is 7-0-1 against Mexico on home soil in that stretch, outscoring its southern neighbor 13-0.
"Right now, we're on top, and we're going to try to stay there," U.S. defender Chris Albright said.

The victory provided a boost for interim coach Bob Bradley, who is hoping to persuade the U.S. Soccer Federation to lift his interim tag. Before the game, USSF president Sunil Gulati told reporters the result "is not going to lead to a direct decision as to who the national team coach will be."

Bradley is 2-0 since he was hired Dec. 8 to replace Bruce Arena.

"The work that we put in this month has been very good," Bradley said. "Not only to prepare us for these two games but to establish a foundation for every camp."

The United States started slow but finished in a rush.

Conrad, playing his 19th international game, headed home a corner kick by Donovan in the 52nd minute, beating goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez inside the left post. It was the 24th career assist for Donovan, the U.S. career leader.

Donovan added the clincher in the 90th minute off a pass by Ricardo Clark. It was the 27th goal in 86 international appearances for Donovan, who scored in his second straight game after going scoreless in 18 consecutive national team appearances over 1 1/2 years.

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( Howard played great in goal, good to see him with the US now that Keller is retiring !)