Call me crazy, but Bob Bradley might have the best current job in international soccer.
Why you ask?
Think about it. Bradley probably pulls in a nice high six-figure salary, gets to wear a different Nike tracksuit for each day of the week and most importantly has about the least pressure hanging over his head than any of his 208 counterparts. (Ok, 207, we won't count Guam.)
That's why, since taking over the reigns of the USMNT in January of 2007 Bradley has been able to pick players and field teams that operate inside a vacuum of the rest of the world.
Just take a look who he recalled for Wednesday's friendly at Poland in Krakow (3:30 p.m., FSC):
Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England)
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Cory Gibbs (Charlton Athletic, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Ricardo Clark (Houston), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Benny Feilhaber (Derby, England), Eddie Lewis (Derby, England)
Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Eddie Johnson (Fulham, England), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich, Germany)
Notice that nary a player from the exciting, technically gifted U-23 team got a recall. Notice how names like Altidore, Adu, Holden, McCarty and Edu are nowhere to be found with the old hoary, "It's MLS preseason" line used for all but Adu.
It's hard to work yourself into a lather over a meaningless mid-March friendly, especially with games in Spain, England and CONCACAF qualifying on the horizon, yet wouldn't this be a great chance to further integrate this young players?
Sorry to geek out into a wrestling comparison, but we don't need this to degenerate into a situation that killed World Championship Wrestling (WCW) when the old guard guys like Hulk Hogan felt their spot at the top of the card was never in question and didn't allow the younger, more exciting talent the spotlight.
Where is WCW these days? Oh right -- dead.
Not to keep beating a throughly dead and washed-up horse, but why on Earth is Eddie Lewis on this roster? Why? Yes, DaMarcus Beasley is out injured and Bobby Convey is lost at the Mars Hotel, but Lewis is currently 33 years old and will turn 34 on May 17. That means come 2010 if the US qualifies he'll be 36.
And let's be frank, Lewis isn't Franco Baresi.
Wouldn't this be a fine opportunity to try a new hand at the left of midfield?, instead of a classic retread. That is, unless Bradley is priming Lewis for one of the three over-23 exemptions for the Olympic team.
It'd be one thing is Lewis was in-form and so-on, but he's playing for perhaps the WORST PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM IN HISTORY. Then again, at least Lewis is getting run, which can't be said for a good bunch of this team -- Bocanegra and Dempsey are glued next to Roy Hodgson on the Fulham bench; Feilhaber can't get a game from Paul Jewell (perhaps not kinky enough); Spector plays sparingly off the bench for West Ham; and Donovan, Ching and Clark are all out of season for MLS, despite preseason tours of Asia and Champions Cup games.
Then, of course, there is Cory Gibbs. Again, nothing personally and I'll admit when my pops was on business in the Netherlands I had him buy me a personalized Gibbs Feyenoord shirt. (Oh what a waste of perfectly good Euros.) BUT, Gibbs, as per Wikipedia, has played a total of 20 games since moving to Europe in 2004.
I guess you have to take a flier on a player like Gibbs, but if you ask me his ship has sailed. If it was due to injuries, so be it. Shit happens.
Again, we don't even have to go back to the WCW example, just look at the state of the USMNT in the 1990s. Granted, the pickings were much, much slimmer. Yet for almost a decade the same players expected to be among the first XI basically on merit. This might be a sweeping overreaction since Bradley has drawn in players from across the globe.
That all said, this friendly only really rates for a couple players -- Bocanegra, Oneywu, Dempsey and Feilhaber for different reasons. Boca and Gooch are the favored defensive pairing for Bradley, but should they be? Here's another chance against a pretty good team (yeah, Poland is bout it). Dempsey, as usual, what position is he? Anyone? It's a long way away, but Deuce needs to start putting together solid 70+ minute performances in a US shirt or his presumed position will be usurped by Adu or another young gun. Feilhaber, who according to differing reports was kicked off the U-23 team, needs to get games. As great a moment as it was, he can't live off the wonderstrike in the Gold Cup final v. Mexico indefinitely.
For all the doom and gloom, I'm very excited to see more of Michael Bradley. It's sad to say, but he's the only guy with unlimited upside on this roster.
Which goes back to my original question, why didn't Bradley include a couple young players -- who should be in form no less?
Well, I've probably answered that many times. While the bulk of the American public is obsessing over Stephen Curry, it's losers and cranks like us are the only ones that care or question why Bradley can continue to make conservative/reactionary selections which would make Metternich blush.
All-and-all, I'll take a deep breath and relax. This is just a friendly in Poland, after all. However, if the bulk of this lineup takes the field at Wembley Stadium on May 28 something is going to have to do done. (Shaking my fist in the air.)
Enough, gotta go vote to make sure the Northwest doesn't get 'Seattle Alliance'. What is this, a game of Risk?
Why you ask?
Think about it. Bradley probably pulls in a nice high six-figure salary, gets to wear a different Nike tracksuit for each day of the week and most importantly has about the least pressure hanging over his head than any of his 208 counterparts. (Ok, 207, we won't count Guam.)
That's why, since taking over the reigns of the USMNT in January of 2007 Bradley has been able to pick players and field teams that operate inside a vacuum of the rest of the world.
Just take a look who he recalled for Wednesday's friendly at Poland in Krakow (3:30 p.m., FSC):
Goalkeepers: Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tim Howard (Everton, England)
Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford, England), Cory Gibbs (Charlton Athletic, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England)
Midfielders: Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Ricardo Clark (Houston), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Benny Feilhaber (Derby, England), Eddie Lewis (Derby, England)
Forwards: Brian Ching (Houston), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Eddie Johnson (Fulham, England), Josh Wolff (1860 Munich, Germany)
Notice that nary a player from the exciting, technically gifted U-23 team got a recall. Notice how names like Altidore, Adu, Holden, McCarty and Edu are nowhere to be found with the old hoary, "It's MLS preseason" line used for all but Adu.
It's hard to work yourself into a lather over a meaningless mid-March friendly, especially with games in Spain, England and CONCACAF qualifying on the horizon, yet wouldn't this be a great chance to further integrate this young players?
Sorry to geek out into a wrestling comparison, but we don't need this to degenerate into a situation that killed World Championship Wrestling (WCW) when the old guard guys like Hulk Hogan felt their spot at the top of the card was never in question and didn't allow the younger, more exciting talent the spotlight.
Where is WCW these days? Oh right -- dead.
Not to keep beating a throughly dead and washed-up horse, but why on Earth is Eddie Lewis on this roster? Why? Yes, DaMarcus Beasley is out injured and Bobby Convey is lost at the Mars Hotel, but Lewis is currently 33 years old and will turn 34 on May 17. That means come 2010 if the US qualifies he'll be 36.
And let's be frank, Lewis isn't Franco Baresi.
Wouldn't this be a fine opportunity to try a new hand at the left of midfield?, instead of a classic retread. That is, unless Bradley is priming Lewis for one of the three over-23 exemptions for the Olympic team.
It'd be one thing is Lewis was in-form and so-on, but he's playing for perhaps the WORST PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM IN HISTORY. Then again, at least Lewis is getting run, which can't be said for a good bunch of this team -- Bocanegra and Dempsey are glued next to Roy Hodgson on the Fulham bench; Feilhaber can't get a game from Paul Jewell (perhaps not kinky enough); Spector plays sparingly off the bench for West Ham; and Donovan, Ching and Clark are all out of season for MLS, despite preseason tours of Asia and Champions Cup games.
Then, of course, there is Cory Gibbs. Again, nothing personally and I'll admit when my pops was on business in the Netherlands I had him buy me a personalized Gibbs Feyenoord shirt. (Oh what a waste of perfectly good Euros.) BUT, Gibbs, as per Wikipedia, has played a total of 20 games since moving to Europe in 2004.
I guess you have to take a flier on a player like Gibbs, but if you ask me his ship has sailed. If it was due to injuries, so be it. Shit happens.
Again, we don't even have to go back to the WCW example, just look at the state of the USMNT in the 1990s. Granted, the pickings were much, much slimmer. Yet for almost a decade the same players expected to be among the first XI basically on merit. This might be a sweeping overreaction since Bradley has drawn in players from across the globe.
That all said, this friendly only really rates for a couple players -- Bocanegra, Oneywu, Dempsey and Feilhaber for different reasons. Boca and Gooch are the favored defensive pairing for Bradley, but should they be? Here's another chance against a pretty good team (yeah, Poland is bout it). Dempsey, as usual, what position is he? Anyone? It's a long way away, but Deuce needs to start putting together solid 70+ minute performances in a US shirt or his presumed position will be usurped by Adu or another young gun. Feilhaber, who according to differing reports was kicked off the U-23 team, needs to get games. As great a moment as it was, he can't live off the wonderstrike in the Gold Cup final v. Mexico indefinitely.
For all the doom and gloom, I'm very excited to see more of Michael Bradley. It's sad to say, but he's the only guy with unlimited upside on this roster.
Which goes back to my original question, why didn't Bradley include a couple young players -- who should be in form no less?
Well, I've probably answered that many times. While the bulk of the American public is obsessing over Stephen Curry, it's losers and cranks like us are the only ones that care or question why Bradley can continue to make conservative/reactionary selections which would make Metternich blush.
All-and-all, I'll take a deep breath and relax. This is just a friendly in Poland, after all. However, if the bulk of this lineup takes the field at Wembley Stadium on May 28 something is going to have to do done. (Shaking my fist in the air.)
Enough, gotta go vote to make sure the Northwest doesn't get 'Seattle Alliance'. What is this, a game of Risk?
Labels: bob bradley, Soccer, USMNT
I'd cut Bradley some slack - he just had the U23's for a couple of weeks and now needs to let them go back to their clubs. Word was Benfica wanted Adu back as soon as possible, and obviously MLS season is starting this week, so those clubs are anxious to get their players back into camp.
As you said yourself - it's a mid-March friendly against Poland. While I completely agree the younger guys need to get moved up, I don't know if this is the match to look at and say "Bradley's not doing it." Let's wait until WCQ's.
How is this game even watchable?
Aside from getting Nike and Landon their prerequisite 2.5 hours of airtime, I don't see anything compelling about this match at all.
It's a lost opportunity to create any kind of buzz around the team, but in the end, isn't that really the story of this team over the last 6 years?
Looking at the current list of clubs our national team players are currently with is extremely depressing. Seriously. Is there a single shitty team in Europe that doesn't have one of Bob Bradley's selections on it?
Good thought. At this point all we need is Jozy Altidore to end up with Paris St.-Germaine.
Onyewu was so bad he couldn't even stick with Newcastle.
And that's saying a lot about the guy's defending skills.
Do you mean to tell me that Roy Wegerle was unavailable?
I'm all for cutting Bradley slack, but he's been on the job for over a year now, and the trends in his player selection are a little more than disconcerting. Think Copa America, with whatever bullshit rationale anyone would like to offer.
Eddie Lewis should never again feature on a national roster, let alone as the sole left sided midfielder. I realize bobby convey is in purgatory at reading and has somehow become the usmnt fan's new bornstein, but give me a fucking break. Is there some honorary cap number im unaware of? There are also a number of better options in the mls, some of which somehow got dissed for the u-23 team so we can see fucking robbie findley and charlie davies play out of position to once again prove how inadequate they are as if no one had ever seen them play before. But again, like Cardillo said, what is the point of "vetting" a 34 year old left winger, and christ if you want a european based player, throw Zizzo out there, even if he is right footed.
Also, why not call up Subotic, who by all accounts is playing outrageously well in the 2 Bundesliga, if you want a look at young European based players.
The only slack that Bradley should be cut has to be based on the fact that he created Michael.