U.S. Beats Sweden as Sacha Kljestan Stars

Saturday night in Los Angeles was the coming out party for U.S. midfielder Sacha Kljestan. His hat-trick lifted the U.S. to a 3-2 win over Sweden at the Home Depot Center.

Kljestan who plays for Chivas USA, was just back from a training stint with Scotland’s Glasgow Celtic, and become the first American to score his first three international goals in the same game in 75 years.

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“Getting a hat trick is pretty exciting for me,” said Kljestan. “I’ve never scored more than one goal in a game as a professional, so it’s definitely exciting. I’m just as happy about the win and I’m glad we held on in the end. It was great to do it [score a hat trick] here at the Home Depot Center. I have a lot of friends and family that come and support me every game, so that was pretty cool to have them here.”

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Overall this was a good performance from an MLS based US team. Sacha Kljestan obviously was impressive as was Brain Ching. Bob Bradley wanted to see some young players step up and I think some did.

Now it is on the opening match of the final round of FIFA World Cup qualifying against archrival Mexico on Feb. 11 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus.