Reyna Hurt in Bland U.S. Loss

Morocco 1, United States 0

NASHVILLE, May 23 -- This was no way for the U.S. national soccer team to get its World Cup preparations started -- with a generally disjointed attack, with another injury to team captain Claudio Reyna and with a costly mistake by one of the squad's most reliable players that handed Morocco a 1-0 victory Tuesday night before 26,141 at the Coliseum.

Less than three weeks before the tournament in Germany begins, the Americans left no lasting impression after the first of three tuneup matches before their opener against the Czech Republic.

"Our opponents played a better game than us," Coach Bruce Arena said. "Our objective is still looking ahead to June 12th and not necessarily these games, although we certainly would've liked to have had a positive result. Our team looked a little tired at times, our passing was poor, our last pass was poor, our crossing was poor."

The U.S. team appeared headed for a listless, scoreless tie, troubling enough considering it is headed to its sport's premier event while Morocco is looking ahead to 2010. However, things took a bad turn in the 90th minute when Steve Cherundolo gave away the ball deep in his own end and allowed Bouchaib El Moubarki to set up Nabil Mesloub for a 10-yard strike over goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

Cherundolo, a longtime German Bundesliga player, chased down a long ball, but instead of pushing it back to Keller or knocking it out of bounds, he tried to turn it upfield. His second touch betrayed him and El Moubarki found Mesloub before the rest of the U.S. defense could react.

"I just took a bad touch and they took advantage of it," Cherundolo said.

There were other disturbing aspects, most notably Reyna's strained hamstring, which affected him in the 11th minute and forced him to the sideline in the 25th. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam Wednesday.

Reyna, the team's steadying force in midfield, also suffered injuries before the 1994 and 2002 World Cups.

"It just really tightened up on me and I just kind of stretched out for a ball and just precautionary came out," said Reyna, who was sidelined for long stretches this past season in England with ankle and shoulder injuries. "It's close to the [World Cup] game so obviously it's not the best timing, but I'm hoping I've gotten away with something very minor. That's what we're optimistically thinking; I don't think it's going to be long term, but tomorrow I'll know better."

Four years ago, in the first of three warmup matches, midfielder Chris Armas suffered a serious knee injury against Uruguay and missed the World Cup. Four days later, in a rough match with Jamaica, defender Greg Vanney was lost for the tournament with a knee injury and several others left bumped and bruised.

On Tuesday, the U.S. team wasn't very sharp with Reyna on the field or after he departed. Only a handful of scoring opportunities arose -- Eddie Johnson's header that just missed the top left corner, Landon Donovan's low bid that was smothered and Bobby Convey's free kick into the side netting during injury time.

The defensive side of things was better, but it came against a young Moroccan team that relied heavily on its counterattack.

Arena paired veteran Eddie Pope with 24-year-old Oguchi Onyewu in the middle of the backline and used Cherundolo and Cory Gibbs, usually a central defender, at outside back. Gibbs started on the left in place of Eddie Lewis, who didn't rejoin the team until Monday after playing for his English club Sunday.

By design, Arena played Josh Wolff at forward for 60 minutes before turning to Johnson, and tested the oft-injured John O'Brien in a holding midfield role for 45 minutes.

By no means will the Americans line up exactly the same way against the Czech Republic in Gelsenkirchen, but it did reveal some clues. Four years ago, seven starters in the opening warmup match ended up starting in the first World Cup game.

"They'll be fine," Arena said of his players' mind-set for Friday's match against Venezuela. "We're looking at the big picture here, and we've got to do everything possible to be ready June 12th."