Bruce Arena selected two MetroStars players to face el Salvador in a friendly at RFK. Those two players were Clint Mathis, and Tim Howard. Mathis, who is in the process of changing his training methods, took full advantage of the oppertunity. With a team age averaging at 24, Mathis was selected to Captain the team. And that he did. He kept his cool throughout the game, and most importantly, he was a threat on offense.

"It was exciting," said Clint about wearing the Captain's arm-band. "It was important for me and my career. I'm no longer the younger guy like I was for the past few years. I'm flattered to represent the country and take the field as the captain. I hope to continue in that roll and be a leader for the younger guys."

Cletus assisted on the second goal of the game, scored by L.A.'s Sasha Victornie. Mathis dribbled the ball towards the pentalty box, passed the ball past through two defenders, and straight to an open Victorine, who only need to tap the ball into the open net. Mathis also had a spectacular shot in the second half, and led to a nearly impossible save by the el Salvador 'keeper.

Then there's Tim Howard, who is trying to steal the number one spot from Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller with his second ever appearance for the United States. And there's no doubt he has a good reason for doing so. Minutes after the game started, the young American defense showed it's inexperience. It lead to a quick counter attack, that caused Timmy to leave his line. Howard successfully saved the shot, and gave up a corner kick. Tim played the entire half, and was subsituted by United's Nick Rimando. With the shut-out, Timmy hasn't allowed a goal in 135 minutes. Now, if he can continue making these spectacular saves for the MetroStars and the US National Team, there's only one thing to say, watch out Brad and Kasey, Howard's about to steal the show.

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The MetroStars also have two players that will participate in the Nike-40 Tour in Germany and Holland. Defenders Nelson Akwari and Mark Lisi were selected. The average age of the team is 21.3, and will feature mostly MLS players. The team will play the reserve squad of Germany’s Borussia Moenchengladbach and defending German champions Borussia Dortmund. The Dutch sides they will face are PSV Eindhoven, Utrecht, Volendam, and then a rematch versus PSV Eindhoven. Good luck Mark and Nelson!