The United States had their chances on Saturday night at Soldier Field, but came away with a draw against Poland. With US coach Bob Bradley using a single forward formation, the United States responded by creating several opportunities early.
New US midfielder Jermaine Jones found Jozy Altidore with a long ball from the middle of the field in the 12th minute for the first US goal. Poland answered back in the 30th, but the US would take the lead again when Oguchi Onyewu headed home a Stuart Holden corner kick in the 52nd. Confusion in the US box led to Poland’s equalizer in the 73rd minute. Though the United States pressed late, they couldn’t find a winner.
I thought we had a very good first fifteen minutes," coach Bradley said. "I thought that the tempo of our game was quite good. I think we were finding people quickly. We scored, obviously Poland responds and for fifteen minutes I didn’t think we did a good job. We picked it up a little bit at the end of the first half so that was a plus. And then in the second half when we went up 2-1, I really thought that there was an opportunity for us if we could again get sharp and pick the rhythm of the game up to finish the game off. And in that period we got a chance or two, but I thought that we were in some ways in low gear. So, that was a part of the game where I think when we had the chance to really finish it off we didn’t take advantage of it."
The United States returns to action on Tuesday, playing Colombia at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania (8pm ET – ESPN2).
— GAME REPORT —
Match: United States vs. Poland
Date: October 9, 2010
Competition: International Friendly
Venue: Soldier Field – Chicago, Illinois
Kickoff: 7 p.m. CT
Attendance: 31,696
Weather: Clear – 67 degrees
Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 1 1 2
POL 1 1 2
USA –Jozy Altidore (Jermaine Jones) 13th minute
POL – Adam Matuszczyk (Ludovic Obraniak) 29
USA – Oguchi Onyewu (Stuart Holden) 52
POL – Jakub Blaszczykowski (Ludovic Obraniak) 73
Lineups:
USA: 1-Tim Howard; 6-Steve Cherundolo, 5-Oguchi Onyewu, 19-Maurice Edu, 3-Carlos Bocanegra (capt.); 15-Jermaine Jones, 4-Michael Bradley; 11-Stuart Holden, 8-Clint Dempsey, 22-Benny Feilhaber (7-Alejandro Bedoya,63 ); 17-Jozy Altidore
Subs not used: 18-Brad Guzan, 2-Jonathan Spector, 9-Eddie Johnson, 13-Eric Lichaj, 16-Michael Parkhurst, 21-Clarence Goodson
Head Coach: Bob Bradley
POL: 1-Artur Boruc; 2-Lukasz Mierzejewski, 8-Rafal Murawski, 9-Robert Lewandowski, 10-Ludovic Obraniak, 14-Michael Zewlakow (capt.), 15-Adam Matuszczyk, 16-Jakub Blaszczykowski, 18- Adrian Mierzejewski (17-Andrzej Niedzielan, 71), 24-Dariusz Pietrasiak, 26-Lukasz Piszczek
Subs not used: 4-Hubert Wolakiewicz, 5-Grzegorz Bonin, 6-Jacek Kielb, 7-Ebi Smolarek, 12-Przemyslaw Tyton, 13-Kamil Glik, 19-Bartosz Salamon, 20-Radoslaw Majewski, 21-Artur Jedrzejczyk, 22-Grzegorz Sandomierski, 23-Kamil Grosicki
Head Coach: Franciszek Smuda
Stats Summary: USA / POL
Shots: 17 / 8
Shots on Goal: 5 / 7
Saves: 5 / 3
Corner Kicks: 5 / 3
Fouls: 9 / 14
Offside: 0 / 0
Misconduct Summary:
POL – Dariusz Pietrasiak (caution) 77th minute
USA – Jozy Altidore (caution) 84
Officials:
Referee: Steven DePiero (CAN)
AR1: Darren Clark (CAN)
AR2: Phillippe Briere (CAN)
Fourth Official: Jorge Gonzalez (USA)
