Bobby Wood s penalty helps US beat Paraguay 1-0 at FIFA friendly

Cary (North Carolina) March 28 (IANS) Forward Bobby Wood s penalty kick helped the United States beat Paraguay 1-0 in a friendly ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

Wood s goal -- the only one of a match that lacked pace especially in the second half and was marked by fouls and several yellow cards -- came in the 45th minute reports Efe.

During the match American goalie Zack Steffen saved 11 goal attempts by Paraguay while Paraguay s goalie Roberto Gatito Fernandez saved three close goal shots.

During the match the US team retained control of the ball 51 percent of the time as compared to 49 percent by Paraguay.

The match also saw seven yellow cards being shown to players of both the teams including five to Paraguay.

This is the US team s second consecutive victory over Paraguay and leaves them ahead in the head to head record by 4-2-2.

Both the teams are however now out of Russia 2018 and will be investing their energies in building a new team with Qatar 2022 in sight.

The match also saw the debut of two promising young players Tim Weah 18 who plays for Paris Saint Germain and Andrija Novakovich another forward who plays for SC Telstar.

--IANS
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