The United States have beaten Japan 3-2 in a lively friendly on Friday, Both the U.S coach Bruce Arena, and his Japan counterpart Zico, used players from their domestic leagues as they continued their World Cup Final preparations.

The game was played in San Francisco, at the Giants baseball stadium, the first game played by the U.S. team in San Francisco for 26 years.

Japan coach Zico experimented with a new formation in the first half, playing with a six-man midfield.

This new structure wasn’t working to Japan’s advantage though, with Japan only managing one shot at goal in the first half, with the lone striker Tatsuhiko Kubo firing over without ever troubling Kevin Hartman in the U.S. goal.

Because of this, the first half was dominated by the U.S. who had the majority of possession, and the better of the chances.

After several good opportunities, Bruce Arena’s team opened the scoreline in the 24th minute when Eddie Pope finished an excellent move by the hosts, with a lovely passing shot from a header from Taylor Twellman.

The Americans doubled their lead in the 39th minute after a clever interchange on the edge of the Japan penalty area between Josh Wolff and Twellman, which was neatly finished by Clint Dempsey.

The second half was far more of a competition, after Zico reverted to their usual team formation, and the half time substitutions paid dividends for Japan.

Japan came out for the second half with far more intent, and both sides created chances, and Japan were unlucky not to halve the deficit before the U.S. went further ahead five minutes into the second half. Taylor Twellman using his head again with a flying header by from a corner taken by U.S captain Landon Donovan.

Japan didn’t let this put them off, and their hard work rewarded them with a goal on 60 minutes from Seiichiro Maki.

Zico’s team continued to press, to try and pull themselves back, but the U.S held them off until Yuji Nakazawa scored a consolation goal for Japan in the final minute, to give the U.S a 3-2 win.

Starting eleven:

U.S. TEAM

22-Kevin Hartman, 3-Todd Dunivant, 12-Jimmy Conrad, 23-Eddie Pope, 5-Kerry Zavagnin, 8-Clint Dempsey, 10-Landon Donovan, 13-Pat Noonan, 17-Chris Klein, 16-Josh Wolff, 20-Taylor Twellman

JAPAN

23-Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, 2-Makoto Tanaka, 5-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 22-Yuji Nakazawa, 4-Yasuhito Endo, 8-Mitsuo Ogasawara, 14-Alessandro Fukunishi, 18-Shinji Ono, 21-Akira Kaji, 9-Tatsuhiko Kubo

Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)