Mexico routs Bolivia 5-0 in friendly

Published Feb. 25, 2010 9:15 a.m. ET

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Braulio Luna scored a goal and assisted on three others as Mexico beat Bolivia 5-0 Wednesday in an international friendly at Candlestick Park.

Javier Hernandez, the leading scorer in Mexico's top domestic league, had two goals as Mexico romped through the first of 11 matches it has scheduled in preparation for the World Cup.

Mexico will open the tournament against host South Africa on June 11.

Pablo Barrera and Paul Aguilar also scored for Mexico, which improved to 8-1-1 against Bolivia.

Mexico was playing without its top players in the European leagues, but still outclassed Bolivia, which finished ninth out of 10 South American teams in World Cup qualifying, from the outset.

Mexico broke through in the third minute when Hernandez found Luna with room on the left wing, and Barrera neatly slotted Luna's low cross inside the near post for a 1-0 lead.

Mexico doubled its advantage in the 13th minute when Hernandez converted a one-touch pass from Luna inside the penalty area.

Luna scored in the 19th minute, jumping on a loose deflection right in front of the goal and Hernandez tallied again in the 21st, running onto a long pass from Luna and beating goalkeeper Daniel Vaca in a one-on-one battle.

Aguilar notched the only second-half goal in the 52nd minute, hammering home a corner kick that had been partially deflected by Vaca.

Bolivia came closest to a first-half goal in the 35th minute, but both a free kick from Samuel Galindo and the ensuing rebound attempt by Ronald Eguino bounced off the post. Augusto Andaveris netted a shot for Bolivia in the 67th minute, but the play was called back for offsides.

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