International football is three and easy for Kljestan

Sacha Kljestan, left, celebrates the first of his two first-half strikes.

Sacha Kljestan opened his international goal account with a hat-trick to lead the United States to a 3-2 win over Sweden in an international friendly in California. Making his 12th international appearance, Kljestan, 23, beat the Sweden goalkeeper Johan Dahlin with a free kick in the 17th minute, then converted a penalty five minutes before the break following a foul on Marvell Wynne by Adam Johansson.

After Daniel Nannskog scored for Sweden with a diving header in the 73rd minute, Kljestan found the net following a pass from Brian Ching a minute later to seal the win for the Americans. The Sweden striker Mikael Dahlberg headed in an Alexander Farnerud pass a minute before full-time to round up the scoring. "It's good to start the year with a win," the US coach Bob Bradley said. "We still know there's a lot of things to work on."

Kljestan and Ching were the only regulars to start for the United States, preparing for a World Cup qualifier against Mexico on Feb 11. The midfielder Daniel Andersson was Sweden's only player with more than 12 international appearances. "It was a good test for us. The US played a little bit better than us in the first half," said the Sweden coach Lars Lagerback, whose team meets Mexico on Wednesday in Oakland, California.

Kljestan became the first American in 75 years to score his first three international goals in the same game after Aldo Donelli, who scored four times in the United States' 4-2 win over Mexico at Rome in a 1934 World Cup qualifier. Kljestan plays for Chivas USA in Major League Soccer and has recently returned from a training stint with Glasgow Celtic. "I had a good experience over there," he said. "I was happy to come back and be fit enough to play in this game."

Line-ups United States: Troy Perkins; Marvell Wynne, Danny Califf, Michael Parkhurst (Ugo Ihemelu, 82), Jonathan Bornstein (Chris Wingert, 79); John Thorrington (Chris Rolfe, 61), Ricardo Clark, Sacha Kljestan, Robbie Rogers (Brian Carroll, 69); Charlie Davies (Kenny Cooper, 46), Brian Ching (Eddie Gaven, 77). Sweden: Johan Dahlin; Markus Jonsson, Marcus Lindberg, Max von Schlebrugge, Adam Johansson; Andreas Dahl (Rasmus Elm, 62), Daniel Andersson (Martin Ericsson, 71), Gustav Svensson, Samuel Holmen (Alexander Farnerud, 62); Mikael Dahlberg, Daniel Nannskog.

*AP