USA falls to Ireland in international friendly

The United States' winless streak stretched to four games Tuesday night with a year-ending 4-1 loss to a second-string Ireland team.

Ireland changed all 11 starters from Friday's 1-0 loss at Scotland in European Championship qualifying and went ahead in the seventh minute when Anthony Pilkington chipped goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who made his second international start and first since January 2012. David McGoldrick, making his international debut, made a through pass past Matt Besler to the sprinting Pilkington.

Mix Diskerud tied the score in the 39th after Jozy Altidore's lofted cross into the penalty area fell to Chris Wondolowski. He dropped a cushioned header to Diskerud, who used the outside of his right foot to flick the ball low into the right corner of the net as chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" rang out in Aviva Stadium.

Robbie Brady put the 61st-ranked Irish back ahead in the 55th after he got behind the defense and scored from 7 yards. James McClean made it 3-1 in the 82nd with a shot that deflected off defender Geoff Cameron and past Hamid, and Brady scored on a 25-yard free kick in the 86th.

The 23rd-ranked Americans dropped to 1-4-3 since beating Ghana in their World Cup opener in June. Coming off Friday's 2-1 defeat to Colombia in London, they have lost consecutive games for the first time since late 2011.

Their four-game winless streak is their longest since Juergen Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley as coach in July 2011.

The U.S. finished the year 6-5-4, having scored 20 goals and allowed 20. In a worrisome trend for the Americans, they have given up 10 goals from the 80th minute on in their last nine games.

The Americans had scoring chances, with Fabian Johnson hitting a post in the 22nd minute with a long-range shot and Altidore's effort from the edge of the penalty area ricocheting off the crossbar in the 43rd.

Jordan Morris, a 20-year-old forward who is a Stanford sophomore, entered in the 76th for his U.S. debut. The U.S.Soccer Federation believes no college player appeared for the national team since Ante Razov in 1995, the year before Major League Soccer started play.