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KRAKOW, Poland -- The United States capitalized on a corner and two free kicks to beat Poland 3-0 on Wednesday in one of the biggest upsets on a full day of international matches.
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Landon Donovan's free kick was headed in by Carlos Bocanegra in the 12th minute and Donovan curled in a corner to Oguchi Onyewu 23 minutes later to put the Americans in control. Eddie Lewis added a goal from a left-footed free kick in the second half to give the Americans back-to-back victories on European soil for the first time.
"We are pleased with the result," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "I thought it was a strong team effort and that's necessary to play in Europe and against a good team like Poland."
Bradley praised Bocanegra and Onyewu for their play in the U.S. backline that stymied Poland's attack, but also for the two players' savvy on the set pieces in Poland's box.
"Defenders are always hungry to in these situations to score goals, get on the score sheet," Bradley said. "I thought that both really in the defense and the set pieces set a good tone for the team tonight."
Poland manager Leo Beenhakker made four changes at halftime to wrest control of the match, but the United States continued to dominate possession and create scoring opportunities.
Donovan, whose two assists in the first half came in his 99th appearance with the U.S. national side, should have scored a goal of his own four minutes after halftime.
The Americans' all-time leading scorer touched a ball past Poland defender Grzegorz Bronowicki and raced unmarked on goal. But Donovan pushed his right-footed shot from just inside the area wide right.
Lewis replaced Donovan in the 63rd and finished the scoring in the 73rd, curling his free kick from 25 meters over the wall just inside the post.
Beenhakker said he was disappointed with his team's performance, saying "some of the players weren't really in the game."
"It's a bad result, I recognize that, and especially a bad first half," Beenhakker said.
But he attributed some of his squad's struggles in defense with allowing an early goal and then pushing forward to try to equalize.
"Automatically you start to play a bit more open, and that's exactly where the U.S. is strong, with fast players in the attack," Beenhakker said.
The American defense, on the other hand, looked solid for the full 90 minutes.
Poland, which qualified for this summer's European Championship in Austria and Switzerland, struggled to find gaps in the U.S. backline, and didn't seriously challenge U.S. keeper Tim Howard throughout the match.
The Poles' best chance came in the 56th, when substitute Radoslaw Matusiak danced through a host of defenders to fire a hard drive that Howard easily punched over the bar.
Lineups
Poland: Artur Boruc, Marcin Wasilewski, Jacek Bak, Arkadiusz Radomski (Michal Golinski, 63), Grzegorz Bronowicki, Lukasz Piszczek (Wojciech Lobodzinski, 46), Dariusz Dudka, Mariusz Lewandowski, Jacek Krzynowek (Euzebiusz Smolarek, 46), Maciej Zurawski (Lukasz Gargula, 46), Pawel Brozek (Radoslaw Matusiak, 46).
United States: Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu (Jay Demerit, 63), Heath Pearce (Benny Feilhaber, 85), Steve Cherundolo (Jonathan Spector, 72), Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Landon Donovan (Eddie Lewis, 63), Clint Dempsey, Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching (Josh Wolff, 63).
