SAN FRANCISCO -- Mix Diskerud figures the whole honour of wearing No. Custom Nike Los Angeles Dodgers Jerseys . 10 is only temporary. He fully expects to play alongside Landon Donovan again down the road with the U.S. national team. For one night at least, Diskerud did that jersey proud. Diskerud and Aron Johannsson, a pair of second-half substitutes raised in Scandinavia, scored to lift a heavy-legged United States over Azerbaijan 2-0 on Tuesday night in the first of three World Cup warmups for the Americans. "Its an honour. A lot of great players have been wearing that No. 10 for the U.S. previously," Diskerud said. "Ill enjoy it. When it comes to Landon, Im sure that were going to be playing together again someday, and of course he has more caps than me so Im just borrowing the uniform right now." The U.S. needed a boost from the bench after captain Clint Dempsey was scratched just before kickoff because of a sore left groin. But the 14th-ranked Americans had trouble breaking down No. 85 Azerbaijan. Diskerud, born in Oslo to a father from Norway and mother from Arizona who met in college, entered in the 71st and scored four minutes later off Brad Davis free kick. With the ball high in the box, Diskerud headed it down to Michael Bradley, whose shot was cleared off the goal line by Elvin Yunuszade. Diskerud then banged the ball in with a right-footed shot 6 yards for his third international goal. "It deflected, and then it was just an easy job for me to score," Diskerud said. "I got tackled exactly when I was going to shoot, and I was just laying down on the ground in agony." He was wearing the No. 10 freed up when Donovan was cut from the roster last Thursday. Johannsson, who was born in Mobile, Alabama, and moved to Iceland with his family when he was 3, entered in the 62nd and scored his second American goal in the 81st with an open header from the top of the 6-yard box off a corner kick by Davis, who replaced Graham Zusi at the start of the second half. "I think we can be very happy with this game," Johannsson said. "Weve been working ridiculously hard in training." Tim Howard, making his 98th international appearance, got his 53rd win to tie Kasey Kellers U.S. record. The Americans began their intense two-week training camp May 14 at nearby Stanford University, and there appeared to be tired legs. "It was exactly what we need at this point of our preparation after two fully loaded weeks," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "It was a tricky game. You want to open it up with a goal, and it gets easier. You want to score a bit earlier. Next up is a match Sunday against Turkey at Harrison, New Jersey, followed by a game with Nigeria six days later in Jacksonville, Florida. Then the Americans head to Brazil for their seventh straight World Cup appearance and first-round matches against Ghana, Portugal and Germany. "Its good to finally get going. Now we can play hard, recover, travel and go again," Howard said. "I thought it was good. I thought tonight was what we probably expected." The Americans arrived in a red-white-and-blue bus sporting the teams slogan: "One Nation. One Team." The focus was on Klinsmann, who made the controversial decision to cut Donovan, the American career scoring leader. Dempsey, slated to start up top with Jozy Altidore in a 4-4-2, was an unexpected absence. "We dont want to risk here anything," said Klinsmann, who estimated Dempsey would heal in two-to-three days. "Its not serious at all." Chris Wondolowski, a local fan favourite of the San Jose Earthquakes inserted in place of Dempsey, was stopped twice early by goalkeeper Kamran Aghayev, the first with a knee on a diving header in the fifth minute. Wondolowskis header off a cross from Alejandro Bedoya in the 15th was parried over the bar. "You have to be ready at a moments notice," Wondolowski said. "Thats why I was a bit disappointed not to find the back of the net. I had a couple of great opportunities that I need to find the corner and hit the back of the net." Azerbaijan, coached by U.S. team adviser Berti Vogts, was outscored 5-0 in a pair of World Cup qualifiers by Portugal. With wind whipping the corner flags early and even the ball out of place during restarts, a new-look U.S. defence was hardly tested. Fabian Johnson started at right back, with Matt Besler and Geoff Cameron as the central defenders, picked over Omar Gonzalez, who replaced Cameron in the second half. DaMarcus Beasley, looking to become the first American to appear in four World Cups, was at left back. Besler and Cameron played together in the middle once previously, against Jamaica in a World Cup qualifier last October. For the first time since 1990, the Americans have no central defenders with previous World Cup experience. Johnson started three games at left back last year but just once on the right -- in the clinching World Cup qualifier against Mexico in September. Klinsmann used a midfield diamond for the second straight game, with Michael Bradley at the top, Jermaine Jones deep, Zusi on the right and Bedoya the left. This match became the true final football game at Candlestick, former home of the NFL San Francisco 49ers through last season and baseballs San Francisco Giants until after 1999. NOTES: A foul by Azerbaijan D Evlin Yunuszade on Davis early in the second half appeared to be inside the box but was called a free kick by Costa Rican referee Henry Bejarano. ... Timmy Chandler played left back in the second half for his first appearance with the U.S. since a World Cup qualifier at Honduras in February 2013. ... Donovan was named MLS Player of the Week for his two-goal performance with an assist for the LA Galaxy in Sundays 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Union. ... Injured American MF Stuart Holden attended the game ... A Nike ball was used rather than the Adidas World Cup model. Custom Nike Atlanta Braves Jerseys .C. -- The Carolina Panthers announced Thursday theyve signed free agent wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery to a two-year contract, helping rebuild a depleted wide receiving corps. Custom Baseball Jerseys . On the eve of the 2013-14 NBA season, he can finally take a step back and allow his team to do the talking. https://www.customjerseysnikebaseball.com/ . Berkman almost left the game last off-season before signing with the Texas Rangers. He then had another injury-plagued season and was limited to 73 games.ARLINGTON, Texas -- Tampa Bay right-hander Chris Archer got his only two walks out of the way against the first three Texas hitters. Then Archer started piling up the strikeouts. The hard-throwing right-hander got into such a groove that he didnt realize he struck out six Rangers in a row at one point in the Rays 10-1 victory Wednesday night. "Its just one of those situations where you get in the zone and you black out," Archer said. "Your hard work and practice takes over." Archer (8-6) had a career-high 12 strikeouts in seven innings and Matt Joyce hit the first of Tampa Bays three early home runs. After those two walks, Archer got out of the first when Alex Rios went down swinging to start the strikeout streak. "When he struck out Rios," I felt a lot better," manager Joe Maddon said. "That was the real deep slider that were used to seeing. I liked that. " It was Archers third career game with at least 10 strikeouts, and two have come against the Rangers. He struck out 11 against Texas in a home game on Sept. 8, 2012, in his third career start. After Joyce homered in the first, Sean Rodriguez and Brandon Guyer hit two-run shots in the second off righty Miles Mikolas (1-5). "I think it was kind of nice to jump out in front with the big hit like that," Joyce said. "The guys seemed to be aggressive with the ball in the zone and up in the zone. Just really driving the ball." James Loney drove in two runs with his three singles for Tampa Bay, which extended its AL record by allowing three runs or less in 17 consecutive road games. Only the 1908 Chicago Cubs had a longer stretch -- 21 in a row. Texas got its run when Leonys Martin had a leadoff double in the fifth and came home on Jim Adducis sacrifice fly. Left-hander Alex Claudio, whose contract was purchased from Triple-A Round Rock earlierr Wednesday when Rangers ace Yu Darvish went on the disabled list, retired all three batters he faced in his major league debut. Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Black Friday. . TRAINERS ROOM Rays: CF Desmond Jennings didnt play because of a sore shoulder, a night after slamming hard into the wall while making an incredible running catch. Jennings could be back in the lineup Thursday. Rangers: Darvish was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of right elbow inflammation and wont start the series finale Thursday as scheduled. The move was retroactive to Sunday, a day after Darvish lost his last start. INF Jurickson Profar, out all season because of a torn muscle in his shoulder, took some grounders without making any throws. UP NEXT Rookie RHP Jake Odorizzi (8-9) pitches for the Rays, who wrap up a 10-game road trip. Tampa is 5-4 on this trip, and 20-6 away from home since June 15. LHP Robbie Ross (2-4) is set to be recalled from Triple-A Round Rock to start in Darvishs spot. Texas has lost 20 of its last 27 home games. ANOTHER NAME TO THE LIST Claudio, who didnt arrive at the ballpark until about an hour after the game began, became the club-record 56th different player and 17th rookie used by the Rangers this season. He was also the record 34th pitcher, and that became 35 in the ninth when catcher J.P. Arencibia pitched in the majors for the first time, allowing one hit in a scoreless ninth. He was the third position player to pitch for the Rangers this year. ALMOST GONE Between the homers by Rodriguez and Guyer in the second, Curt Casali hit a towering drive that hit on top of the 14-foot wall in left field and ricocheted back onto the field. Umpires looked at replay that confirmed the ball remained in play for a double. MUCH LESS TIME A night after a 14-inning game that took 4 hours, 49 minutes to play, the third game of the four-game set was played in 2 hours, 51 minutes. ' ' '  |
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