U.S. TIES CHILE 1-1 IN INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY SOCCER MATCH

American team included Poway player Marvell Wynne

Story and photos by Ron Logan

January 22, 2011 (Carson, Calif.) – The U.S. Men's National Team (MNT) tied Chile 1-1 in an international friendly match played at The Home Depot Center (HDC) in Carson, Calif. Both teams fielded their third-string teams in a contest that showcased some of the best new young talent from both countries. The 18,850 fans set an attendance record for largest crowd for an MNT friendly at the HDC.

Poway's Marvell Wynne played the second half of the match. Wynne (son of the former San Diego Padres player Marvell Wynne) has earned five career caps with the full national team.

Chile scored first when Esteban Paredes buried a cross from Felipe Seymour in the 53rd minute. The U.S. equalized on a converted penalty kick by Teal Bunbury after U.S. forward Juan Agudelo was tripped up in the penalty area. On a local note, Poway's own Marvell Wynne replaced U.S. defender Omar Gonzalez in the 46th minute. This marks Wynne's fifth career cap with the full national team.

Seven U.S. players earned their debut for the national team tonight. Four starters: Sean Franklin, Jeff Larentowicz, Zach Loyd and Chris Wondolowski, and three substitutes, Sean Johnson, Anthony Wallace, and Eric Alexander.

This was one of the least experienced teams ever to take the field for the United States with the combined number of caps for the starting lineup being just 18 (compared to over 550 when the U.S. played England on June 12, 2010.)

“From the start of this camp we talked about how international games are faster so our movement needs to be better and things need to be cleaner,” said U.S. head coach Bob Bradley, who is now 3-1-1 all-time in opening matches of the year as head coach of the MNT. “For the past few weeks we tried to establish an idea of what that's like and today that's exactly what we got. We had seven guys get their first cap tonight, so that's always positive. When you have a young group of guys in camp, at the end of everything you want to put it to the test and it gives you a good picture of where these guys are, and I think that part was excellent.”

The USA currently ranks 18th in the world whild Chile is ranked 15th. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa the U.S. lost in the Round of 16 to Ghana, 2-1 in overtime, while Chile lost in the same round to Brazil, 2-1.

This was the ninth meeting between the U.S. and Chile. The U.S. all-time series now stands at 3-4-2, and is now undefeated in the last four contests against Chile.

Before tonight’s draw, the U.S. had won the previous three matches.

The next game for the U.S. will be against Egypt in Cairo on Feb. 9.