On a night for US National Team hopefuls, the United States couldn't generate enough on either end of the field to get past the Czech Republic in the first of the two-game Sendoff Series. With US coach Bob Bradley opting to rest several of his starters, the US got on the board first through Maurice Edu in the 17th minute. That lead held until just before halftime when Tomas Sivok equalized. The Czechs made it 2-1 through Jan Polak in the 58th. In his first game in several years, US forward Herculez Gomez showed why he was tied for the lead in scoring in the Mexican League, equalizing in the 66th. That would be it for the US offense, with the Czech Republic scoring in the 78th and 90th minutes.
"Tonight was about looking at guys," Bradley said. "We felt going into the game we still needed to size up some different possibilities and options. The subs we used tonight were all geared toward looking closely at people and using that information along with everything else in camps before and through this cycle. There are thoughts about what they bring to the team chemistry and mentality, and finally the fitness and current form. It's all of those things that get discussed and then decisions get made."
Match: United States vs. Czech Republic Date: May 25, 2010
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: Rentschler Field; East Hartford, Conn.
Kickoff: 8 p.m. ET
Attendance: 36,218
Weather: Warm, clear – 76 degrees
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 1 1 2
CZE 1 3 4
USA – Maurice Edu (Edson Buddle) 17th minute
CZE – Tomas Sivok (Jaroslav Plasil) 44
CZE – Jan Polak (David Lafata) 58
USA – Herculez Gomez (Clarence Goodson) 65
CZE — Martin Fenin 78
CZE – Tomas Necid 90+2
Lineups:
USA: 18-Brad Guzan; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 5-Oguchi Onyewu (28-Alejandro Bedoya, 65), 21-Clarence Goodson, 12-Jonathan Bornstein (20-Heath Pearce, 46); 22-Stuart Holden, 26-José Torres (14-Sacha Kljestan, 46), 19-Maurice Edu, 7-DaMarcus Beasley (25-Robbie Rogers, 46); 9-Eddie Johnson (11-Brian Ching, 46), 29-Edson Buddle (30-Herculez Gomez, 46)
Subs not used: 2-Jonathan Spector, 13-Ricardo Clark, 23-Marcus Hahnemann, 24-Chad Marshall, 27-Robbie Findley
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
CZE: 1-Petr Cech; 2-Ondrej Kusnir, 5-Jan Rajnoch, 6- Tomas Sivok, 7-Libor Sionko (19-Jan Moravek, 85), 8-Jan Polak (12-Mario Holek, 90), 11-Daniel Pudil, 13-Jaroslav Plasil (18-David Limbersky, 91), 17-Tomas Hübschman, 15-Martin Fenin (4-Milan Cerny, 78), 20-David Lafata (9-Tomas Necid, 67)
Subs not used: 10-Tomas Pekhart, 14-Rudolf Skacel, 16-Michal Danek, 21-Jaroslav Cerny, 23-Jan Lastuvka
Head Coach: Michal Bilek
Stats Summary: USA / CZE
Shots: 6 / 11
Shots on Goal: 4 / 4
Saves: 0 / 2
Corner Kicks: 5 / 3
Fouls: 23 / 18
Offside: 4 / 4
Misconduct Summary:
CZE – Jan Rajnoch (caution) 34th minute
Officials:
Referee: Mauricio Morales (Mexico)
Assistant Referee 1: Alejandro Ayala (Mexico)
Assistant Referee 2: Victor Calderon (Mexico)
Fourth Official: Mark Geiger (USA)
