A very young and inexperienced U.S. side showed a lot of heart in coming back to draw 1-1 with Chile. Esteban Paredes scored the opening goal of the match for Chile early in the second half while Teal Bunbury equalized from the spot late in the match.
As expected Bob Bradley continued to look for new faces for the national team as seven MLS-based Americans; Eric Alexander, Sean Franklin, Jeff Larentowicz, Zach Loyd, Sean Johnson, Chris Wondolowski and Anthony Wallace, all earned their first senior-team caps. That makes 12 debutants that Bradley has used in the US’ last two games.
After a scoreless first half, Chile went ahead in the 53rd minute on a goal by Paredes. A backheel from captain Fernando Meneses freed Seymour down the right channel and the substitute put in a cross that eluded U.S. goalkeeper Marvell Wynne. The Colo-Colo forward controlled the ball poorly, but no American could close the attacker out before he calmly beat Johnson with an athletic side volley.
Bradley immediately went to his bench bringing in Agudelo and Bunbury and these two subs gave the US a much-needed burst of energy.
The U.S. tied the game up in the 72nd minute with one of the best passing sequences of the game. Tim Ream started the play from midfield, hitting McCarty, whose touch found Agudelo. The New York Red Bulls forward played one-two with Alejandro Bedoya. After taking the return, the 18-year-old touched the ball to his right and was brought down by a Chilean defender in the box. The referee pointed to the spot, and Bunbury’s ensuing penalty was low and true, beating Garcés to his left.
The U.S. had a chance to win it at the end when Bunbury and Agudelo teamed up again, but Agudelo’s shot from 15 yards out went straight to Garces.
Overall a good night for U.S. soccer. Bob Bradley got to see more new faces as he rebuilds the U.S. team after the 2010 World Cup. In addition to the aforementioned Agudelo and Bunbury, I was impressed by the performances of Tim Ream, Zach Loyd and Brek Shea.
