USMNT v. Colombia at PPL Park

Wondering what to watch tonight in light of the fact the Phils don’t play until Saturday, the Flyers have the night off, and you possibly do not care for preseason NBA games? Well, alternative programming is available as the US Men’s National Team faces Colombia in a friendly at PPL Park this evening (8PM/ESPN2). I’ll be there along with Enrico, Matt P., and Level commenter/soccer fan extraordinaire Walklett.

The US Soccer press notes advise that this is just the third time the USMNT has played in Philly since 1990 (although they did wrap-up their World Cup send-off series with a 2-1 win over Turkey in front of 55,000+ at the Linc as recently as May 29th).

The US tied Poland 2-2 on Saturday night in Chicago at Soldier Field. Jozy Altidore and Oguchi Onyewu tallied for the US, who introduced a new formation and one very important new face. 

US coach Bob Bradley, who recently signed a four year extension, used the friendly against Poland to trot out a very en vogue and very Mourinho-ian 4-2-3-1. For years now the strength of the US program has been in the midfield. It was refreshing to see Bradley recognize this and finally -- somewhat belatedly -- make use of his midfield depth.

The 2-3 part of the 4-2-3-1 was manned by Jermaine Jones, Michael Bradley, Stuart Holden, Clint Dempsey, and Benny Feilhaber. Jones, who was born in Germany to an American father and German mother, made his much anticipated US debut against Poland.

Thanks to a recent FIFA rule change Jones, despite having appeared in three friendlies for Germany, became eligible to play for the US. He teamed with Michael Bradley to provide the US with two class box-to-box midfielders who ply their trade in the Bundesliga. Jones wasted no time in making his presence felt by lofting a ball over the Polish back four and onto the foot of Jozy Altidore, who timed his run perfectly en route to scoring the game’s first goal.

Onyewu, who is still working his way back from an knee injury suffered during World Cup qualifying, also went the full ninety minutes and got his head on the other end of Holden corner kick for the second US goal. Onyewu was paired with Maurice Edu in the center of the US back four, which was somewhat surprising considering Edu typically plays in the midfield for club side Rangers. When is the Omar Gonzalez era going to begin again?

What should you look for tonight? Well, aside from Heath Pearce and Brek Shea from FC Dallas there are no MLS players on the US roster, so no Landon Donovan. However, you should hopefully see 21 year old outside back Eric Lichaj make his US debut, which is made all the more likely considering Steve Cherundolo and Carlos Bocanegra have returned to their club teams.

Aside from that I’d imagine you’d see much of the same lineup from Saturday. Perhaps Bob Bradley will reward backup keeper Brad Guzan for making the trip back from England by giving him the start in net. I am most interested in seeing how Jermaine Jones looks in person. His introduction into the US program has been so long awaited that it’ll be nice to watch him play. Also, I hope Jozy gets a full ninety minute run out because lord knows he’s not playing enough for Villareal.

Finally, I mentioned it on Twitter, but I am at a loss as to who was responsible for promoting this game. Was it US Soccer? Was it the Union? There has been zero buzz leading up to tonight. I realize it is a just a friendly, but for a city angling to host a World Cup game or two (should the US be awarded the 2018 or 2022 games) you’d think they’d spent a bit more time and money promoting it.

Yes it is a Tuesday night/school night, but we’re only talking about 18,000 seats here. This has the potential to be a terrible reflection on Philadelphia and our local soccer scene, which is a shame considering fans have turned out to support the Union all season. Hopefully I am wrong, but we’ll see.