US 2 Poland 2
I attended another spanking of DC United this time administered by the Quacks, so I didn't get a chance to watch the US Poland friendly until this morning.
I guess the big story before the match was that at long last Jermaine Jones of Schalke was capped as a US player. And he made a big splash with about 7 minutes gone receiving a ball from Stuart Holden and immediately hitting a long no-look ball over the top to a on-running Jozy Altidore for an early US lead.
But true to form, defensive mistakes by the US were the larger story of the night. Poland replied before the end of the half when under pressure, Holden sliced a ball straight up into the air in an attempted clearance in our box. The ball came straight down and Onyewu was under it, but still mananged to let it slide down his face and to a Polish striker who emphatically hit it home and past Tim Howard. This after two other occasions when Howard bailed out a very leaky left side of Edu, Boca, and Feilhaber who were either over-or-run-ragged.
Then after the break, Holden served up a lovely free kick into the area which Gooch barrelled through to get on the end of. A bit of redemption for arseing up his header and gifting the Poles their first of the night.
Still, quickly afterwards, the Poles caught Jones in possession, played two quick passes again before hammering another strike past Howard.
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
Jones had a decent debut. Holden was busy, at times very good, but at other times, chaotic and disjointed. Again, the US was punished by not having a solid goal-scorer up top. Jozy simply isn't that guy. Twice he only had Boruc to beat and failed. Often, he was so out of position to score that balls coming into the box simply sailed through and out of danger.
Drawing against ordinary sides like Poland? Coach B needs to find a goalscorer for the US National team quickly. We cannot make progress without one.
posted by gooner71 @ 4:50 PM
4 Comments:
For some reason, I completely slept on this match and was in the middle of a film noir fest last night when the match was on. Shame - I would have liked to have seen JJ's debut.
I've just caught the highlights on FSC and it sounds just as you said, Gooner. Some good stuff going forward but Keystone Kops defending at the back.
I agree with both BD and Gooner. I finally watched the match. Jermaine Jones had a decent debut. He is a quality passer, but I wish he was more involved in the match. Poland's first goal was a result of pathetic defending by Holden and Gooch. The pair made amends when Gooch scored off a Holden corner early in the second half. Both Poland goals were the result of defensive errors as Gooner stated. The U.S. had a chance to win at the end when Boruc saved a header from close range that was cleared off the line. That led to chaotic defending in the Polish penalty area before the danger was cleared. The U.S. does need to improve.
Lads, the US men are up again tomorrow against Colombia at 8pm on the Deuce.
Thanks for the heads-up, mate!
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