Bocanegra strikes late

U.S. ties Poland 1-1, extends unbeaten streak to seven matches

Carlos Bocanegra (from left), Bobby Convey, Tim Howard and Eddie Pope could do nothing as Piotr Wlodarczyk scored.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Carlos Bocanegra scored late to give the United States a 1-1 tie against Poland on Sunday in a friendly.

Bocanegra headed Landon Donovan's corner kick in the 88th minute past goalkeeper Artur Boruc and forward Ireneusz Jelen.

Jelen had an opportunity to stop the ball, but couldn't control it at the goal line.

Bocanegra, who once starred for the MLS Chicago Fire, credited Donovan and a pick by 17-year-old midfielder Eddie Gaven for his goal.

"[Gaven] just backed his guy and himself into my defender," Bocanegera said. "I just kind of ran on and Landon served a nice ball."

Gaven, MetroStars midfielder, was the fourth youngest player ever to appear for the U.S.

Piotr Wlodarczyk scored in the 76th minute. U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard blocked Marcin Burkhardt's cross attempt, but allowed the rebound to roll to Wlodarcyk.

After evading Howard, the Polish striker sent a slow shot that hooked inside the right post.

"Let's give our opponents credit," said U.S. head coach Bruce Arena. "I think they played real hard and came with a good plan."

Boruc stopped a penalty kick by Brian McBride in the 11th minute that came after the goalkeeper was called for fouling Josh Wolff.

A crowd of more than 39,000 attended the U.S. team's first visit to Chicago in 11 years, though it was split in its loyalties.

Poland fielded a young team stocked with players inexperienced in international play, but coach Pawel Janas was pleased with his team's effort.

"With the No. 7 team in the world, to play 1-1 in their stadium is a great step for us," Janas said. "I want to say great thanks to Polish fans for keeping us in the game."

The result extended the Americans' unbeaten streak to seven matches and left them 5-1-3 in 2004. 

Summary

United States 1 Poland 1 - result. International friendly.

Scorers:

United States - Carlos Bocanegra 88

Poland - Piotr Wlodarczyk 76

Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 39,529

United States - 13-Tim Howard, 6-Steve Cherundolo, 4-Carlos Bocanegra, 23-Eddie Pope, 15-Bobby Convey, 7-DaMarcus Beasley, 25-Pablo Mastroeni (9-Clint Mathis, 77), 10-Landon Donovan, 5-Kerry Zavagnin (17-Eddie Gaven, 82), 20-Brian McBride (11-Brian Ching,65), 16-Josh Wolff (Brian Mullan, 72).

Poland - 1-Artur Boruc, 2-Mariusz Mowlik, 4-Dariusz Dudka (14-Michal Stasiak, 73), 5-Pawel Kaczorowski, 10-Sebastian Mila (11-Michal Golinski, 62), 17-Jaroslav Bieniuk (3-Rafal Lasocki, 64), 6-Tomasz Jarzebowski, 16-Patryk Rachwal (16-Maciej Scherfchen, 79), 18-Marcin Burkhardt, 8-Ireneusz Jelen, 9-Piotr Wlodarczyk (7-Vahan Gevorgyan, 90).

Referee: Jean-Francois Corrivault (Canada)

Postgame quotesheet

Bruce Arena, U.S. manager

On the match:

"To get that goal late in the game shows we played very well. I don't think the Poles were much of a threat during the game and they did well on the goal, making something out of that. We had a lot of chances to get a win from Josh Wolff, Brian McBride and Landon Donovan, and you could be critical of that, but I feel good about the way we played. It was good to get Brian Mullan and Brian Ching and Eddie Gaven some playing time because those are positions we need help in, and it was good to see Pablo Mastroeni playing in a position where he hasn't played in a long time."

On Poland:

"Give our opponent credit, they played hard and stuck to a good game plan. We could be at fault for not finishing all of our opportunities, but at least we got a point out of this. The Polish goalkeeper was the player of the game for them. They defended well and the keeper had a heck of a game."

On the impact of the missed penalty kick:

"Well, it means that the game was 0-0 instead of 1-0. You know, if it is 1-0, Poland can't sit back with nine men behind the ball. I think it had an impact for them, but not for us. You make 80-90 percent of penalty kicks, so maybe we'll make the next 8 or 9 in a row."

On the partisan Polish crowd:

"It was good if you're from Poland. It's good practice for qualifying, we'll see that in Jamaica, and we hope we get a point down there."

Carlos Bocanegra, U.S. defender

On the goal:

"I thought it was going to squirt through his legs and I'm just glad no one was there to kick it out. It was nice, I didn't have such a great clearance on their goal. I didn't completely see it, so it was nice to get one back and make it even. I don't think I bailed us out, [our forwards] worked hard up there and sometimes its not going to go in for them. But I thought we were on top of them a lot today and sometimes that happens where you give up a fluke goal and they're up 1-0 but we did well to fight back and get a goal."

On the team's overall performance:

"I don't think we're going to look at it too much, Poland came out and played hard, but like I said I think we dominated and had most of the play.

On the crowd:

"It was great, it was almost like an away crowd and we get that everywhere it seems but it was an awesome crowd and a great atmosphere."

Josh Wolff, U.S. forward

General comments on the game:

"We kept plugging away. Carlos kind of bailed us out and scored a great goal. We played pretty good and we got a good result. Not a great result, but a good result."

"We got a lot of different guys in, some new faces into the game."

"Poland got about seven or eight guys behind the ball and they were difficult to break down at times. But again we were patient at times and not so patient at other times, but when we were able to move the ball around and get it behind them is when we played our best."

On the upcoming semifinal round World Cup qualifier in Jamaica on Aug. 18:

"Going into the qualifiers, we are going to Jamaica and we know it's a difficult place to play but we'll be going down there and playing for a result. We'll be going for the win. It's going to be a difficult match but Bruce will put together a team that he feels will have the right chemistry and the right make up to go down there and get a result."

Quotesheet courtesy of ussoccer.com.

Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.