U.S. Soccer Gets Back on Board

Rebounding from a disturbing loss to Morocco on Tuesday, the United States World Cup soccer team Friday night defeated Venezuela, 2-0, on goals by Brian Ching and Clint Dempsey in front of 29,745 at Cleveland.

It was the next-to-last preparatory match for the U.S. before the squad leaves for Germany on Thursday.

Coach Bruce Arena started only two of the players in the lineup during a 1-0 loss Tuesday -- defender Oguchi Onyewu and forward Josh Wolff -- and the U.S. turned in a far more cohesive and attack-minded performance.

Arena started Tim Howard in goal behind a back line of Chris Albright, Onyewu, Jimmy Conrad and Carlos Bocanegra.

In midfield, he had Dempsey wide right, Bobby Convey wide left, Ben Olsen as the defensive midfielder and Wolff as the playmaker. Ching and Eddie Johnson were the forwards.

The teams each took eight shots, but the U.S. had four on target compared to three for Venezuela. Howard had only two difficult saves to make in earning the shutout, the most troublesome when he had to leap to tip midfielder Juan Arango’s goal-bound free kick over the crossbar in the 68th minute.

Ching’s goal came in the 36th minute when he sprinted between two defenders and redirected the ball into the back of the net off a perfect cross from the left side by Convey, who was impressive throughout.

“I think I’m making Bruce sweat a little bit,” Convey told the Associated Press. “I’m happy about that.”

Arena sent DaMarcus Beasley on for Convey and Landon Donovan on in place of Wolff in the 65th minute. Four minutes later, the U.S. doubled its advantage.

Donovan played a through ball to Johnson, who ran it down near the end line and crossed it back into the middle, where Dempsey beat Venezuela goalkeeper Javier Toyo with a powerful header.

Bocanegra was ejected in the 82nd minute for throwing an elbow as he jumped for the ball. Mexican referee Mauricio Morales Valle already had booked him just before the end of the first half for tripping.

Arena gave midfielder Michael Bradley, the son of Chivas USA Coach Bob Bradley, his international debut by bringing him into the game for the final few minutes.

Two of the Americans’ three first-round World Cup opponents also played Friday. The Czech Republic shut out fellow World Cup participant Saudi Arabia, 2-0, at Innsbruck, Austria, on goals by Milan Baros and Marek Jankulovski; and Ghana got a goal from Matthew Amoah as it tied Turkey, the 2002 third-place finisher, 1-1 at Bochum, Germany.

Mexico plays France today.

The U.S. plays Latvia at East Hartford, Conn., on Sunday (4 p.m., ESPN2) before leaving for the World Cup, where it opens against the Czechs on June 12.

Jones reported from Los Angeles.