SOCCER: U.S. GETS WIN VS. MEXICO.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Jimmy Conrad scored his first international goal and Landon Donovan converted a late breakaway, leading the United States to a 2-0 exhibition victory over Mexico on Wednesday night in Glendale, Ariz., that kept up the Americans' dominance of their regional rival.

Conrad headed home a corner kick by Donovan in the 52nd minute, beating goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez inside the left post. It was the first international goal for Conrad, playing in his 19th game for the Americans, and the 24th career assist for Donovan, the U.S. career leader.

Donovan added the clincher in the 90th minute off a pass by Ricardo Clark. It was the 27th goal in 86 international appearances for Donovan, who scored in his second straight game after going scoreless in 18 consecutive national team appearances over 1(bul) years.

Playing in front of a heavily pro-Mexican sellout crowd of 64,462, the Americans improved to 8-2-1 against Mexico since 2000. The United States is 7-0-1 against Mexico on home soil in that stretch, outscoring its southern neighbor 13-0.

"I think we showed what we're made of," Conrad said.

Other friendlies, and a qualifier: Spain beat England 1-0 in an exhibition game at Manchester on behind Andres Iniesta's goal in the 63rd minute. Germany, Argentina and the Netherlands also won exhibition games, and Ireland won 2-1 at San Marino 2-1 in the night's only 2008 European Championship qualifier.

Empty stadiums in Italy? Reacting to the fatal attack on a policeman last week, the Italian Cabinet approved measures that could force many of the soccer teams in the nation's top leagues to play in empty stadiums.

The decree approved by the cabinet also bans clubs from selling blocks of tickets to visiting fans and allows authorities to bar suspected hooligans from entering stadiums, even if they haven't been convicted of crimes.

"The measures are severe and without precedent," Deputy Interior Minister Marco Minniti said. "Our objective isn't to play the games behind closed doors. Our objective is to play the games in safe stadiums with open doors."

Chivas USA to play at Granada Hills: Chivas USA will play a preseason game against Real Salt Lake at 7:30p.m. March 17 at Granada Hills High School's John Elway Stadium.

The game comes under the terms of a partnership Chivas USA will enter into with U.S. youth soccer club Real So Cal.

The agreement, between the Major League Soccer team and the Coast Soccer League club, includes exhibition games, cross-promotion, and joint scouting and recruiting.

Tickets, which start at $10, will be sold to the public beginning Feb. 15 on the Web site www.quakessoccer.com.

Also, the Chivas USA Reserves will play against the San Fernando Valley Quakes, Real So Cal's Premier Development League affiliate, at a date to be announced.