A vastly under-strength USA side went down 1-0 to Slovakia on Saturday, with only a 26th-minute Marek Hamsick penalty separating the two sides.Although the Americans were mi sing first-choice players including Tim Howard and Landon Donovan, they were in no way disgraced and Bratislava, perhaps best known for horror movie Hostel, was not the scene of another butchery on Saturday.Faced with a host of players unavailable through injury or other commitments (Donovan played and scored for Los Angeles Galaxy on Friday night) USA coach Bob Bradley was forced to move Jonathan Spector to central defence for the first time, and saw his son Michael break the deadlock after just two minutes only for his effort to be ruled out.Hamsiks converted penalty, awarded after Jonathan Bornstein was adjudged to have pushed Vladimir Wei s inside the area, came in the middle of a spell of US dominance during which Americas deputy goalkeeper Brad Guzan, of Aston Villa, was practically a spectator as Clint Dempsey, the visitors biggest threat in the absence of Donovan, twice went close to scoring. youtube: Jan Mucha, Guzans opposite number in the Slovakian goal, also had to be at his best to later deny sub Sacha Kljestan and Eddie Johnson as the United States piled on the pre sure.Tonight was a frustrating lo s for us we feel we at Jedd Gyorko Jersey least deserved a draw tonight, USA captain Carlos Bocanegra said.We created some good combinations in the first half, created some good opportunities, but they didnt go in tonight.Bradley, neverthele s, will undoubtedly take heart from a gutsy performance from his troops. Instead of treating the friendly as an excuse to experiment with his charges, the United States chief instead took the opportunity to let his core squad play together for as long as po sible resisting wholesale changes for around three-quarters of the game.Dempsey: during the 1-0 defeat to SlovakiaThat made all the difference, as the Americans started to pa s the ball with slick cohesivene s and outscored their opponents, ranked 33rd in the world and preparing for their first World Cup as an independent nation in 2010, in terms of both shots at goal (8-5) and corners (5-1) but couldnt make their opportunities count.This match was on opportunity to see some different players, said Bradley.I think the area tonight that let us down was the sharpne s and execution in the attacking part of the field.Bradley can take a number of positives into Wednesday nights friendly with Denmark, however not least the return of Stuart Holden, Rico Clark, Edgar Castillo and Jose Torres. Guzen proved an able deputy to Howards undisputed grasp of the number one shirt, with a superb couple of stops in the second half to deny Erik Jendrisek. While he could do nothing to prevent Hamsicks well-taken penalty, Guzen demonstrated the goalkeeping prowe s that should keep the Everton goalkeeper on his toes when he recovers from his foot injury.Friends and rivals: Goalkeepers Guzan and HowardDempsey, too, impre sed although whether or not this was because of Donovans absence cannot be known. With Donovan back in California, helping Galaxy to the Major League Cup final with a 2-0 overtime win against Houston, Dempsey shouldered more responsibility and was also afforded a lot more freedom going forward.At the back, however, Bornstein attracted much criticism for his performance not least his role in the games critical moment, the penalty. Whether or not it was a penalty and TV replays suggested maybe not Bornstein still allowed Wei s in behind him and Castillo may get his 2010 World Cup audition sooner than he thought on Wednesday night.USA: Guzan; Cherundolo, Spector, Bocanegra, Bornstein; Rogers, Feilhaber, Bradley, Dempsey, Altidore, Casey. Carlos Martinez Jersey