Yanks beat Los Llanteros in Glendale

The U.S. Men's national team dominated Venezuela on Saturday, but it took last minute heroics from Ricardo Clark to give the Nats the victory.

The United States held the lion's share of possession from early in the match. The team included four players making their first appearance with the squad, but had several chances early in the match from forwards Brek Shea and Teal Bunbury.

It took until stoppage time for the U.S. to finally see the back of the net. The initial four minutes of stoppage time was extended when Venezuela protested a yellow card being issued to Francisco Flores and further complained about a non-called collision with goal keeper José Morales.

The U.S. kept their composure as the waning seconds ticked away and Jermaine Jones sent a corner kick to the pate of Ricardo Clark who knocked the ball past Morales for a 97th-minute score.

The win is the first against a South American team for the U.S. since March 25, 2007, when they defeated Ecuador 3-1 in Tampa, Fla.

Everything except scoring earlier

After the match, coach Jürgen Klinsmann had high praise for his team, but acknowledged that the score could have been higher given the number of chances the U.S. had.

"They implemented everything we told them, except maybe scoring a little bit earlier."

Klinsmann pointed to one chance created by Benny Feilhaber early in the game. It was Feilhaber's first time wearing the national team jersey since 2010, and is in the process of working his way back to more regular appearances.

"If the first pass he played through to Brek Shea was a goal, then he's a mastermind," he laughed.

Hometown boy does good

Phoenix-born Brad Evans got a strong ovation from the crowd when he was substituted for Teal Bunbury in the 88th minute. It was Evans's fifth cap for the team, and the first since 2010.

He loved the atmosphere playing in front of so many hometown fans.

"The crowd was great tonight. I think having 22,000-plus fans says something about Arizona soccer, which is big. I didn’t see too many Venezuela fans. It was mostly U.S. fans so it was tremendous."

Making the trek

Among those who drove up Interstate 10 to see the match was Keaton Koch, who also went up to a training camp earlier in the month.

Koch, who heads up the supporters' group for FC Tucson, managed to get close to the players.

"A guy from Boston gave us wrist bands to go on the field. We got our Arizona flag signed by everyone at the camp," he said.

Koch is dedicated to the U.S. team and says he'll come to any match in the region — "Arizona, Southern California, even New Mexico."

Another fan who went up was Greg Foster, managing partner for FC Tucson. His reasons weren't entirely about being a fan, though. He, along with other staff from FC Tucson and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, plunged into the rowdy pre-game celebration held by the American Outlaws, a fan club for U.S. Soccer, to hand out fliers for the upcoming Desert Diamond Cup.

"We figure an American Outlaw gathering is the right place. They are our target market," he said.

FC Tucson doesn't have figures for how many fans from Phoenix came down for last year's event. He's hopeful that this year's event will draw fans from the burg up north.

"Most people have heard of it and a lot say they are coming. We anticipate a decent crowd out of Phoenix," he said.

What's next

The team will depart from Phoenix on Monday for Panama for a game against their national team on Wednesday. The next appearance for the national team will be Feb. 29 against four-time World Cup winners Italy.