SAN JOSE, Calif. - Major League Soccer's first game was sold with typical American hoopla and party atmosphere: hundreds of kids, streamers, rock music, somersaults and pretty girls.

Now, the league has to start selling the game itself.

Eric Wynalda's 88th-minute goal Saturday night gave San Jose a 1-0 victory over the Washington, D.C. United, and allowed U.S. soccer and league officials to breathe easier.

It was a goal that delighted the sellout crowd of 31,683, sent Wynalda and his teammates into spontaneous celebration and avoided a dreaded scoreless draw.

For the first of 160 games, it achieved its purpose. But, it was less than optimum, with sloppy passing, poor finishing by name players and some rough tackles.

''I hope the level of play improves, and I'm sure it will,'' said U.S. national team coach Steve Sampson, who added that the teams only had five weeks of training after first seeing one another.

''The quality improved as the game went on. That was important. The coaches adjusted and the players adjusted.''

Sampson also noted that only a handful of players in Saturday night's match had ever played under the media-spotlight conditions that prevailed, and league officials were pleased with the first game.

''It was tentative, a bit ragged in the early stages,'' said MLS commissioner Doug Logan. ''But we're no different than any other sport in the early going.''

Four games are scheduled for next Saturday with another on Sunday.

Washington, and the league's other eight teams, will try to match the atmosphere of Saturday's match when they open their home schedules over the next two weeks.

They will have difficulty since they probably won't have bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid 80s, an opening ceremony of 700 and the novelty of being the first.

Raising the quality of play may be easier than at first glance. Subsequent games likely won't be as sloppy. Teams will get another week of training together and the media focus won't be as intense.

''For ourselves, we're not very fit,'' United coach Bruce Arena said. ''Because of the weather (in Washington), we didn't get out on the field a whole lot.''

''I think we both expected some early season teething problems,'' said San Jose coach Laurie Calloway. ''We're not in synch and we got some new players this past week, which showed in some miscommunication at times.''

Still, Saturday's game produced a level sufficient to satisfy the crowd and MLS officials.

''I thought we saw some tremendous stuff tonight,'' Calloway said.

There also was some dreadful stuff, such as Marco Etcheverry's two blown chances in the second half. But after the first 15 minutes, the play produced its first chance. And the second half saw some worthwhile combination touches.

''Next week, we open in Los Angeles on Saturday,'' Logan said. ''There's no magic to this. We've got a great product.''