FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – The United States took another positive step after last month’s failure in France, beating El Salvador 2-0 on Saturday night as it began defense of its CONCACAF Gold Cup championship.

Eddie Lewis and Brian McBride scored for the United States, which managed just one goal in the Confederations Cup in June when it went 0-2-1.

But the U.S. team beat Paraguay in an exhibition 2-0 last Sunday before dominating El Salvador. Goalkeeper Kasey Keller rarely was tested as he continued his Gold Cup success.

He had four shutouts in five games in last year’s tournament in which the United States beat El Salvador 4-0 in the quarterfinals and Costa Rica 2-0 in the finals.

On Saturday, captain Claudio Reyna made his first start since last summer’s World Cup, where the United States reached the quarterfinals. He played the first 60 minutes at midfield before being replaced by Clint Mathis.

Reyna, who had knee surgery last Nov. 18, returned to action last Sunday when he played the last 30 minutes against Paraguay.

The United States would advance to the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup, the championship of North and Central America and the Caribbean, with a win or tie Monday night against Martinique.

In Saturday’s opener, Canada upset Costa Rica 1-0.

in a group D opener. Each of the four groups has three teams that play two games each in the opening round. The United States is in Group C.

The top two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals next Saturday in Foxboro, where two games will be played, and Miami and Mexico City, where one game each will take place with the winners moving to the semifinals July 23 in Miami and July 24 in Mexico City.

The third-place game is scheduled for Miami on July 26 with the championship match set for Mexico City on July 27.

With a large contingent of El Salvador fans in the crowd of 33,652, Lewis gave the United States a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute when he beat goalkeeper Juan Jose Gomez from 16 yards after taking a pass from McBride. It was Lewis’ second goal in the team’s 12 games this year. McBride got his first goal of the year in the 76th minute when he headed in a crossing pass from the right side from Steve Ralston. Just five minutes earlier, Ralston had replaced Earnie Stewart.

The United States, Costa Rica, Mexico and invited tournament guests Brazil and Colombia are the favorites in the regional tournament.

The United States beat El Salvador twice last year.

, 4-0 in the 2002 Gold Cup quarterfinal on Jan. 27 at Pasadena, and 2-0 on Nov. 17 at Washington. But El Salvador was coming off a 2-1 win over Mexico last week in a tuneup match.

Notes:The United States is 15-0-0 in opening round action in Gold Cup history. … The team improved to 7-3-2 this year. … McBride’s goal moved him into a tie for third place with Bruce Murray on the U.S. career list with 21. Eric Wynalda has 34 goals and Joe-Max Moore 31. … Forward DaMarcus Beasley missed the game with a right ankle sprain sustained in practice Wednesday. … The United States is 8-1-3 in Foxboro.

AP-ES-07-12-03 2052EDT