USA and Argentina drew 0-0 on Sunday in the final warm-up for both teams before the resumption of World Cup qualifiers.

The exhibition match at Giants Stadium was a far from friendly affair with both teams finishing with only 10 players.

The hosts went down a man in the 71st minute when Pablo Mastroeni was sent off by Salvadorian referee Joel Aguilar and Javier Mascherano was dismissed for the visitors with five minutes to go for a bad tackle on Landon Donovan, who was playing in his 100th international.

The South Americans were hoping to repeat their superb performance of Wednesday when they hammered Mexico 4-1 at Qualcomm Stadium but the American defence stood firm throughout.

There was controversy in the 51st minute when Aguilar decided not to award a penalty for a foul on Sergio Aguero by US goalkeeper Tim Howard.

With both teams looking to give their players a run-out before next week's World Cup qualifiers, the game was disrupted by numerous substitutions and the scoring opportunities dried up in the closing minutes as play became more physical.

The United States will begin their qualification campaign for South Africa against Barbados at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles next Sunday while Argentina take on Ecuador at the Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires on the same day.