The USSF announced today that the national team will be hosting Poland at Chicago Field in Chicago on October 9 at 8 pm EST. The US has a 7-7-2 record all time vs. Poland with a win and a draw in the last two meetings. In 2004, the teams played at the same venue and Carlos Bocanegra scored a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw. In 2008, the teams met in Krakow, and the US won 3-0 with goals from Bocanegra, Eddie Lewis, and Oguchi Onyewu. This match will feature (almost exclusively) European based players. There is a full slate of MLS matches schedule for the same day, with only LA Galaxy and Philadelphia Union playing on the 7th. While this is a date on the FIFA Calendar, the USSF has made an internal rule of sorts to not call MLS players when there are MLS matches that conflict with the international calendar. With many things decided, the US may call in players who are on MLS teams that are out of the running for the playoffs, but I'd doubt that would happen.
Match ended in a 2-2 draw last night. Jozy Altidore scored the opener and Oguchi Onyewu made it 2-1 early in the second half, before Poland equlaized for a 2-2 final. As for some performances of note, I'll start with the goal scorers: - Jozy Altidore - Terrific finish on the first goal, which was set up by a brilliant pass from Jones, but more on that later. Despite scoring the opener, Altidore had enough chances that an in-form striker would have ended the match with a hat trick, easily. Its good that he's getting himself in position for chances, but he desperately needs to start scoring goals regularly for Villarreal and for the US. Another positive is that he looked comfortable as a lone striker in the 4-5-1 that Bradley started with. On the bad side, there were also many times that Altidore would end up in the Jones-Bradley area of midfield. While I like to see a forward tracking back, I think that was a bit excessive, particularly for a lone striker. - Oguchi Onyewu - Probably the second most anticipated performance in this match was Onyewu's. Unfortunately, he looked like a guy who hasn't played much of anything since he tore up his knee nearly a year ago. He had his moments where he looked strong in tackles and in the air, but a pitiful clearance set up Poland's first goal, though he nearly tracked down and blocked the shot. He also found himself open on a corner in the second half and sent Holden's service home. I realize that Onyewu wants to stick things out and make it at AC Milan, but there comes a time where his country will need him to get regular playing time and it isn't going to happen in Milan. - Jermaine Jones - The pass to set up Altidore's goal was brilliant and Jones continued through the remainder of the match working hard and popping up in the right places all over the pitch. Poland took to hacking him down frequently during the first half, but Jones stuck with it, despite his frustrations (here's hoping that Clint Dempsey was taking notes). Despite many highlights for Jermaine Jones, he Clarked a clearance twice which lead to Poland's goal to draw level. Overall, it was a very solid performance and Jones provided the sort of passing accuracy that we haven't seen since Claudio Reyna retired. Check-out the Whiteboard from World Soccer Reader for a more in-depth look at his performance. - Maurice Edu - The Edu as Centerback experiment started last night as Edu lined up next to Onyewu at the start of the match. Edu in the back and Jones in midfield provided some of the best passing I have seen from the US in years. Edu looks comfortable with the ball at his feet as a midfielder, but it stands out even more when he's paired with a punter like Onyewu. Having Edu in the back helped out with possession and passing as much as Jones playing did as Edu would look to Jones and Bradley, or play wide for Cherundolo or Bocanegra, rather than the usual long ball over the top to find Altidore or Dempsey that we usually get from the US defense. - Bob Bradley - Good to see a 4-5-1 and Edu in the back, not so good to see only one sub being made. He started experimenting, then stopped when it came time to make some subs. Brad Guzan, Eric Lichaj, and Eddie Johnson were left on the bench for no apparent reason. I'm hoping these guys will see action on Tuesday, along with Brek Shea, but there was no reason to not play them last night. Especially Lichaj, who was born and raised in suburban Chicago to Polish immigrants. While he deserves the cap for other reasons, it would have been nice to see him get a chance in those conditions. There isn't too much else for me to comment on as I was not paying close attention to the match. I should have a better assessment of the match on Tuesday against Colombia. Here are some articles from other sites: Ives match night commentary and post-match assessment. USSoccer.com's post match article. AP post-match article, from ESPN. Soccernet's Jeff Carlisle with match ratings. Noah Davis with What Bradley Learned.
This just in, Lichaj actually received not one, but two call-ups for this match. BBC is reporting is reporting that both Poland and the United States called Lichaj in for this match, but he opted for the country of his birth, rather than his parent's native land.
