McBride Finishes Well in Last Warmup

United States 1, Latvia 0

EAST HARTFORD, Conn., May 28 -- Two weeks from now, when the stage and opponents are grander and the results mean everything, those squandered scoring opportunities will surely cause more anguish. The defensive missteps will be punished and the tight scoreline in the closing moments will trigger a fretful reaction.

On Sunday evening, however, all those little imperfections didn't mean much because the game was a friendly, not a World Cup match, and the opposition was Latvia -- not the Czech Republic, Italy or Ghana.

So all it took to make U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena happy was Brian McBride's goal just before halftime during a 1-0 victory before 24,636 at Rentschler Field in the Americans' final tuneup before the World Cup.

It was far from a perfect performance against an unimaginative team, but considering the U.S. squad was playing its third match in six days and Arena intended to continue his lineup experiments, the result was satisfying to both the coach and his worn players.

"I'm real pleased getting these three weeks of preparation over with and now we can realistically look forward to the World Cup," said Arena, who has given his team three days off before the delegation departs for Germany on Thursday.

"Next time we're together as a team is in Germany, where our complete focus will then be on preparing our team for the Czech Republic. We'll be ready for it. We're moving along according to schedule and all the talking is done; we'll have to step on the field and show what we're about."

McBride, sporting a plum-size welt above his left eye after an early collision, scored his 30th career goal, second on the U.S. all-time list behind Eric Wynalda's 34.

"We've put a lot of hard work in and now we're looking forward to getting over there," McBride said.

Following a two-week training camp in North Carolina and the meandering exhibition schedule, Arena is showing indications of the starting lineup for the World Cup opener.

The back field appears the most settled. Goalkeeper Kasey Keller started the first and third games of the tour to solidify his hold on the No. 1 slot. Eddie Pope, a regular in the previous two World Cups, started again Sunday and, although he was paired with Jimmy Conrad, his partner in Germany undoubtedly will be Oguchi Onyewu.

Onyewu, a massive presence, did not start Sunday after playing 74 minutes against Morocco and 90 against Venezuela.

Eddie Lewis finally started at left back Sunday, his expected role at the World Cup, and Steve Cherundolo returned to his usual spot on the right.

DaMarcus Beasley, struggling on the left wing, was tossed to the right against the Latvians, possibly indicating that Arena wants to create an opening on the left for Bobby Convey, who had a major impact on Friday's 2-0 victory over Venezuela in Cleveland.

There are other lingering questions:

· Has the oft-injured John O'Brien, who absorbed several hard challenges without incident Sunday, displayed enough endurance to regain the prominent role he held four years ago? And if so, where would he play?

· Is Landon Donovan more effective as a scheming midfielder or a withdrawn forward?

· Has the enigmatic Eddie Johnson earned Arena's trust to start alongside McBride on the front line?

· And what to do with team captain Claudio Reyna, currently sidelined with a hamstring injury?

"We kind of have a very good feel for the pecking order of our team in how we're going to position our players," Arena said. "We're getting pretty close to that."

The goal finally arrived in the 43rd minute. Donovan sprayed the ball wide to the unmarked and advancing Cherundolo, who crossed to the edge of the six-yard box for McBride to head into the top of the net.

"We're still a ways away," Keller said, "but I think we're in good shape and we're ready to go."

U.S. Notes: Reyna, midfielder Clint Dempsey (sore back) and defender Carlos Bocanegra (red card suspension) were not in uniform.