Marek Hamsik converted a penalty kick in the 26th minute, and Slovakia defeated the United States 1-0 on Saturday in a friendly between 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

American defender Jonathan Bornstein gave away the penalty kick when he fouled Vladimir Weiss on the right side of the area, and Hamsik easily converted with a low shot to the right, as U.S. goalie Brad Guzan dove the opposite way.

The U.S., which recently qualified for its sixth consecutive World Cup finals, dropped its seventh match of the year, falling to 13-7-3 overall. The U.S. has one more match remaining, Wednesday at Denmark in another battle of World Cup qualifiers.

The Americans had a few good scoring chances in the first half, including two from Clint Dempsey, and one each from Jozy Altidore and Benny Feilhaber, but couldn't find the back of the net.

Slovakia escaped the first half with the lead on Hamsik's penalty, although it managed just one shot on goal and settled for only 40 percent of possession.

The U.S. struggled to create good chances after the break, with Eddie Johnson, who is trying to regain a spot on the squad for the World Cup, firing into the side netting seven minutes after half on one of the team's best opportunities.

Guzan did well to keep the Americans within a goal, with a diving save on Erik Jendrisek just seconds after Johnson's miss, and then a point-blank foot save do deny Stanislav Sestak on a one-on-one chance in the 74th.

Slovakia, which won Group 3 in European qualifying to advance to the World Cup for the first time as an independent nation, held on to capture the first-ever meeting between the two nations.

The Americans play Denmark, which won Group 1 in European qualifying, at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday.