USA-Poland

I will be updating this as I get a chance. Better yet, follow it yourself the same way I am since I am still at work, on the Match Tracker.

Here is the U.S. line-up:

Goalkeeper: Tim Howard
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Heath Pearce, Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu
Midfield: Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Ricardo Clark
Strikers: Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching

Intersting that the three MLS players named to this squad are starting. The combo of Johnson/Dempsey/Ching up front looks promising, lost of speed, lots of quickness, fair amount of creativity. Johnson and Dempsey work together a Fulham as well which helps the American side here. I like the offensive minded 4-3-3 formation.

Quick update. U.S. takes the lead with a header by Carlos Bocanegra off a Landon Donvan cross in the 11th minute. From the commentary, it looks like the U.S. are controlling much of the flow of the game (but that could be reporting bias).

Update II: U.S. Scores second goal in 34th minute. Onyewu heads on a corner kick by Landon Donovan. U.S. 2:0 Poland.

Updated III (4:25pm) Halftime: U.S. leads by two on two Landon Donovan crosses to U.S. defenders. Uh, where are Dempsey & Co.?

Update (4:40pm) Second half underway, U.S. made no changes to its lineup.

Update (4:46pm) Either Poland made four substitions five minutes into the second half or the commentators at Match tracker didn't get the info of changes made at half time.

Update (4:58pm) American subs: Eddie Lewis for Landon Donovan, Jay DeMerit for Oguchi Onyewu and Josh Wolff for Brian Ching. Poland also makes a fifth sub. Not surprising, both Ching and Donovan have MLS openers on Saturday.

Update (5:09pm) The U.S. scores again! This time Eddie Lewis puts a free kick over the wall and into the net from 22 yards out. U.S. lead 3-0!!

Update (5:19pm) With about 5 minutes and stoppage time to go, it appears as though the U.S. has dominated this match. They have been active and aggressive on attack with plenty of opportunities and apparently dangerous on set pieces. Benny Feilhaber has just come on for Heath Pearce in the 85th minute.

Update (5:28pm) Game over. U.S. win 3-0 improving the lifetime record against the Poles to 7-7-2. This is a win over a side that won their Group in Euro 2008 qualifying and the win looks impressive on paper and comments. Can't wait to see the highlights.

The U.S. continues to find success under Bob Bradley and this performance appears to be another good one. I find it strange though that the U.S. scoring is coming from defenders and midfielders. Likewise, we need to see more scoring in the run of play. I think all three goals today came off of set pieces. While I agree that it is very important to take advantage of every set peice opportunity you have and getting three goals on three set pieces is impressive, goals in the run of play are a) more exciting to see and b) add to the depth of your attack.

Still a 3-0 win, on the road, against a quality side does bode well.