Mexico wins friendly over Venezuela 4-0

ATLANTA (AP) - Giovani Dos Santos scored twice and set up another to help Mexico beat Venezuela 4-0 in a friendly in the Georgia Dome on Wednesday.

Mexico plays a second friendly against Guatemala on Sunday in San Diego.
Coach Javier Aguirre was using these matches to hone El Tri for an Aug. 12 World Cup qualifier in Mexico City against the United States, which advanced to the Confederations Cup final with a stunning 2-0 upset of top-ranked Spain on Wednesday in South Africa.

According to El Tri general manager Nestor De La Torre, Mexico's current squad will stay in place only through the friendlies. He and Aguirre could make several changes before the Gold Cup games.

"It's too early to draw conclusions," Aguirre said. "I have told the players that all 23 of them will be playing in these five matches. After that, we should have a good idea as to who will be starting."

Dos Santos fed Carlos Vela, who easily beat Rafael Romo when the Venezuela goalkeeper fell in front of the box, for the opening goal in the 45th minute.

Four minutes earlier, Romo fell face-down on the grass with an apparent injury, but he never left the field.

Dos Santos fired in his first goal three minutes after halftime, and less than three minutes later he made it 3-0 when he went for a high kick against Romo in the box. The ball ricocheted off Romo, and Dos Santos quickly gained control to hit the back of the net.

Omar Arellano capped the scoring in the 73rd before a mainly pro-Mexico crowd of 51,115.

Georgia Dome operators installed a temporary grass surface for the first time since it opened in 1992.