FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 15 - Edson Buddle's goal in the 68th minute gave the United States under-23 men's national team a 1-0 win over Haiti in an exhibition match Wednesday night.

Ed Johnson had the assist on the goal, which came shortly after a Haitian handball just outside its penalty area.

Goalkeeper D.J. Countess had three saves for the Americans.

"They came at us a lot harder than we expected," he said.

Landon Donovan, honored last week with his second consecutive Honda Award as the men's national soccer player of the year, entered the match in the 61st minute. Donovan did not start because of a sprained ankle sustained in a Major League Soccer match last week.

The match was the only tuneup for the American U-23s before their Olympic qualifying schedule begins on Nov. 15 at St. Kitts-Nevis.

"I think we'll do really well in the qualifiers," Donovan said.

The crowd of 9,715 was mainly pro-Haitian, which wasn't a surprise considering South Florida's large Haitian community.

"Today's game was good experience for the guys," U.S. coach Glenn Myernick said. "It was like an away game and they needed that before qualifiers."

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