America down Inter on penalties

Oscar Rojas scored the shoot-out winner as Mexico's Club America defeated Inter 5-4 on penalties on Sunday in a friendly match.

The teams were tied at 1-1 at the end of regular time. Ivan Cordoba equalised for Inter in the 60th minute after Club America had taken the lead nine minutes earlier through Juan Carlos Silva.

The match was part of the World Football Challenge, a series of friendlies featuring Chelsea, Milan and Inter and Club America.

The next match in the series is at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, where Chelsea will play Inter. Club America face Milan tomorrow at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, then on Friday Chelsea and Milan play in Baltimore.

"I'm very happy because scoring a goal against such a big team is very exciting," Silva said, although the Italian champions didn't field their best team.

With Julio Cesar and Francesco Toldo both absent on Sunday, 19-year-old Vid Belec started in goal for Inter.

Two of Inter's biggest stars, defender Javier Zanetti and forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic were not in the starting line-up. Ibrahimovic entered the fray early in the second half.

"We're very happy with the way the game went," Inter coach Jose Mourinho said. "We're very happy no one got injured."

The players weren't even aware that the challenge's format included penalty shoot-outs in case of a drawn outcome, and started exchanging jerseys at the end of regular time.