CHICAGO – Midfielder Jermaine Jones registered a pinpoint assist 13 minutes into his US international debut, but it was not enough as the US national team tied Poland 2-2 at Soldier Field on Saturday night.
Forward Jozy Altidore made the most of the Jones assist early on and defender Oguchi Onyewu scored on a header off a corner kick in the 52nd minute to give the US the lead on two separate occasions. However, a failed clearance by Onyewu at the half-hour mark and a giveaway by Jones near the US box in the 73rd minute allowed Poland to come back from two deficits.
Bob Bradley decided to make just one substitution in the match as Alejandro Bedoya came on for Benny Feilhaber in the second half.
Jones made a positive first impression in his first appearance, showing passing skills which will help the possession game of the USA. The debut was marred by the giveaway, but the Schalke 04 midfielder was very involved and often joined the back line when the US was under most pressure.
The US national team travels to Philadelphia on Sunday in preparation for Tuesday's match against Colombia at PPL Park, home of the Philadelphia Union.
Scoring Summary:
USA – Altidore 13'
POL – Matuszczyk 29'
USA – Onyewu 52'
POL – Blaszczykowski 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 (63' #7 Alejandro Bedoya); 17-Jozy
Altidore
Subs not used: 18-Brad Guzan, 2-Jonathan Spector, 9-Eddie Johnson,
13-Eric Lichaj, 16-Michael Parkhurst, 21-Clarence Goodson
Manager: Bob Bradley
POLAND: 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 (71' #17 Andrzej Niedzielan), 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
Manager: Franciszek Smuda
Misconduct Summary:
POL – Dariusz Pietrasiak (caution) 77'
USA – Jozy Altidore (caution) 84'
Referee: Steven DePiero (CAN)
Assistant Referees: Darren Clark (CAN), Phillippe Briere (CAN)
Fourth Official: Jorge Gonzalez (USA)
Attendance: 31,696
