Youthful United States hold on for friendly win vs. Paraguay

AP Photo/Gerry Broome

---

The United States hung on for a 1-0 friendly win against Paraguay in Cary, North Carolina on Tuesday night.

Dave Sarachan trotted out a very experimental XI and the young lineup looked sharp for the most part in the opening 20 minutes, defending well and nearly finding the back of the net through Kenny Saief after some good build-up play just past the 15-minute mark.

And the U.S. opened the scoring just before halftime when Bobby Wood calmly dispatched a spot kick after Tyler Adams had been tripped up by Paraguay keeper Gatito Fernandez as he broke in on goal from a Marky Delgado through ball.

A Matt Miazga giveaway almost let Paraguay back in the game in the 65th minute, but Wil Trapp popped up in the right spot to block Miguel Almiron's shot after he'd picked up the turnover outside the U.S. penalty area.

Paraguay went close again 10 minutes later when Hernan Perez rose highest for Junior Alonso's outswinging cross and headed it just wide of Zac Steffen's far post.

The visitors had one last chance in stoppage time, but Steffen punched a cross from a dangerous position away from the U.S. goal to seal the victory for the Americans.

The match saw midfielder Tim Weah and forward Andrija Novakovich make their U.S. senior team debuts from the bench while Marky Delgado earned his first senior cap as part of the starting XI. Weah is a son of George Weah, Liberia's president and the 1995 FIFA Player of the Year.