"Keep ya head up." -- Tupac
Heading into today's USMNT roster announcement there was basically one story and one story alone worth tracking -- Charlie Davies.
Would the man who's become such a symbol of inspiration in the Twitter-verse for U.S. supporters get a chance to complete one of the most remarkable comeback stories in the history of sports? Would a man who looked, frankly, left of dead after a brutal, horrific car accident rise from the ashes and feature at the world's premier sporting event barely nine months later?
Through his overwhelmingly positive tweets, Davies seemed to have convinced fans that a miracle was coming.
Turns out, unceremoniously in the middle of the day in between Kobe Bryant highlights, Davies dreams came crashing to an end when the USMNT initial 30-man roster for the World Cup next month was revealed on ESPNEWS.
In the immediate wake of Davies' exclusion there is plenty of speculation.
Why would Bob Bradley not even include him in initial 30-man roster?
Why not even give him three weeks to prove he's healthy?
Did Sochaux's medical staff have something to do with this?
Was some deeper conspiracy involved?
Why, why, why?
Maybe it's just simply a cruel dose of reality -- Davies wasn't ready.
The mere fact Davies was even in consideration heading into today was a minor miracle in-and-of itself, right? Let's not forget that he broke his leg and arm, lacerated a bladder and sliced up his face. Walking, let alone playing professional soccer, seemed like the immediate goal back on that grim October day.
It's not a popular opinion today, but perhaps Bradley the Elder knows a little more than we did. I've never spoken with the Sochaux medical staff. Hell, I haven't even seen Davies play since last October vs. Honduras.
Bradley, for all his warts, is an intelligent man. I'm sure he saw all the information presented before him and made the difficult decision to omit Davies. If the Sochaux medical team deemed him unfit for the end of the Ligue 1 season, how could Bradley gamble on Davies' health with only two 90-minute friendlies at the end of May to gauge the health of the breakout player of 2009?
Does this set up a clear, if not rare, second-guess scenario for the USMNT?
Sure it does. One way or another, if the U.S. fails to score goals, invariably leaving Davies off the plane to South Africa* will be blamed.
* Can't the USSF find a way to keep Davies involved with the team, much in the same way England has for David Beckham?
Will fans be upset Davies didn't even get three weeks in May to prove he was more worthy of at least the initial 30-man roster than Eddie Johnson or Robbie Findley?
Of course they will be.
Sadly, it is what it is. The Davies' story will not have a Hollywood ending.
Not that today is the day to reflect on it, but it's still incredible Davies was in the mix to begin with. He's alive and looks like he'll still have a career as a soccer player. If all goes well, he'll be bringing the Stanky Leg to Brazil in four years time. The future, albeit not the immediate one, is still rather bright for Davies.
Now Bradley, the rest of the team and the fans have to move on beyond Davies and focus at the task at hand -- getting out of Group C.
It's a sad day for Davies, sure, but it's not the end of the road for him or the USMNT. If we're lucky, the team will rally around him like they did in the final qualifier back in October at RFK.
Charlie, keep ya head up.**
** For what it's worth, I've never been a big Tupac guy, or a big Biggie guy for that matter, either. The rap game begins and ends for me with Wu-Tang.
The roster itself:
Aside for Davies, there's not really all that much to discuss.
Did anyone really think the Elder was bringing Freddy Adu even into the Princeton camp?
The whole Edgar Castillo/Jermaine Jones scenarios proved to be much ado about nothing, didn't they?
It's doubtful anyone is spilling any tears that Conor Casey or Jeff Cunningham will have to watch the games from South Africa at home.
Probably the only guy who's omission is worth debating is Frankie Hejduk. He might be prone to the occasional lapse, but he's a good chemistry guy and can play on the outside. The fact his Columbus teammate Chad Marshall got the nod probably means Bradley might be a little leery about the health of Oguchi Onyewu, or at least he wants to have somebody to push Clarence Goodson.
Obviously the biggest question going forward, no pun intended, is what Bradley does with the stable of forwards. Will anyone from the trio of Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle or Eddie Johnson emerge as a viable starting candidate? It's the one spot on the field where there is a definite, open competition.
Having said that, the best U.S. team probably has Dempsey playing forward or as a withdrawn striker behind Jozy Altidore.
Arrgh!:
Part of me really wants to refrain from basing ESPN today. Honest.
Maybe I just need a dose of reality and realize where exactly soccer and the World Cup remain in the U.S. media pecking order.
On the one hand, it was nice that ESPNEWS actually announced the U.S. roster today live. On the other, could it have been in less inglorious, rapid, rushed fashion?
In every other country, this is major, primetime-worthy news. In America? The middle of the day of a high-on-the-dial cable station.
And listening to various hosts talk to Bob Bradley on the phone was just painful.
The lack of pomp-and-circumstance in the unveiling of the roster can be justified.
Would it kill ESPN to move away from the Dallas Braden perfect game follow up for five minutes of discussion on the roster?
I know ESPN's usual hosts probably couldn't differentiate Sacha Kljestan from Sasha Grey. And I know its usual talking heads stay away from mentioning soccer (Skip Bayless, et al) because it would only prove their general level of ignorance and incompetence for all other sports.
All I'm asking is a little talk. A little discussion.
Dust off Alexi Lalas for a segment. Hell, even bring out Mr. Onions for some "analysis".
I just don't get ESPN. You watch a game on it, and every commercial break features that geo-political ad narrated by Bono. ESPN clearly wants people to watch the World Cup.
But why, on the day the U.S. announces its roster, does it barely pay attention and or care? Isn't this the way to foster growth more than using the voice of rock star nobody under the age of 35 cares about?
Oh well, it's getting better, but we still have a long way to go.
* * *
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton)
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (12): DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), José Torres (Pachuca)
FORWARDS (6): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla), Eddie Johnson (Aris Thessaloniki)
Heading into today's USMNT roster announcement there was basically one story and one story alone worth tracking -- Charlie Davies.
Would the man who's become such a symbol of inspiration in the Twitter-verse for U.S. supporters get a chance to complete one of the most remarkable comeback stories in the history of sports? Would a man who looked, frankly, left of dead after a brutal, horrific car accident rise from the ashes and feature at the world's premier sporting event barely nine months later?
Through his overwhelmingly positive tweets, Davies seemed to have convinced fans that a miracle was coming.
Turns out, unceremoniously in the middle of the day in between Kobe Bryant highlights, Davies dreams came crashing to an end when the USMNT initial 30-man roster for the World Cup next month was revealed on ESPNEWS.
In the immediate wake of Davies' exclusion there is plenty of speculation.
Why would Bob Bradley not even include him in initial 30-man roster?
Why not even give him three weeks to prove he's healthy?
Did Sochaux's medical staff have something to do with this?
Was some deeper conspiracy involved?
Why, why, why?
Maybe it's just simply a cruel dose of reality -- Davies wasn't ready.
The mere fact Davies was even in consideration heading into today was a minor miracle in-and-of itself, right? Let's not forget that he broke his leg and arm, lacerated a bladder and sliced up his face. Walking, let alone playing professional soccer, seemed like the immediate goal back on that grim October day.
It's not a popular opinion today, but perhaps Bradley the Elder knows a little more than we did. I've never spoken with the Sochaux medical staff. Hell, I haven't even seen Davies play since last October vs. Honduras.
Bradley, for all his warts, is an intelligent man. I'm sure he saw all the information presented before him and made the difficult decision to omit Davies. If the Sochaux medical team deemed him unfit for the end of the Ligue 1 season, how could Bradley gamble on Davies' health with only two 90-minute friendlies at the end of May to gauge the health of the breakout player of 2009?
Does this set up a clear, if not rare, second-guess scenario for the USMNT?
Sure it does. One way or another, if the U.S. fails to score goals, invariably leaving Davies off the plane to South Africa* will be blamed.
* Can't the USSF find a way to keep Davies involved with the team, much in the same way England has for David Beckham?
Will fans be upset Davies didn't even get three weeks in May to prove he was more worthy of at least the initial 30-man roster than Eddie Johnson or Robbie Findley?
Of course they will be.
Sadly, it is what it is. The Davies' story will not have a Hollywood ending.
Not that today is the day to reflect on it, but it's still incredible Davies was in the mix to begin with. He's alive and looks like he'll still have a career as a soccer player. If all goes well, he'll be bringing the Stanky Leg to Brazil in four years time. The future, albeit not the immediate one, is still rather bright for Davies.
Now Bradley, the rest of the team and the fans have to move on beyond Davies and focus at the task at hand -- getting out of Group C.
It's a sad day for Davies, sure, but it's not the end of the road for him or the USMNT. If we're lucky, the team will rally around him like they did in the final qualifier back in October at RFK.
Charlie, keep ya head up.**
** For what it's worth, I've never been a big Tupac guy, or a big Biggie guy for that matter, either. The rap game begins and ends for me with Wu-Tang.
The roster itself:
Aside for Davies, there's not really all that much to discuss.
Did anyone really think the Elder was bringing Freddy Adu even into the Princeton camp?
The whole Edgar Castillo/Jermaine Jones scenarios proved to be much ado about nothing, didn't they?
It's doubtful anyone is spilling any tears that Conor Casey or Jeff Cunningham will have to watch the games from South Africa at home.
Probably the only guy who's omission is worth debating is Frankie Hejduk. He might be prone to the occasional lapse, but he's a good chemistry guy and can play on the outside. The fact his Columbus teammate Chad Marshall got the nod probably means Bradley might be a little leery about the health of Oguchi Onyewu, or at least he wants to have somebody to push Clarence Goodson.
Obviously the biggest question going forward, no pun intended, is what Bradley does with the stable of forwards. Will anyone from the trio of Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle or Eddie Johnson emerge as a viable starting candidate? It's the one spot on the field where there is a definite, open competition.
Having said that, the best U.S. team probably has Dempsey playing forward or as a withdrawn striker behind Jozy Altidore.
Arrgh!:
Part of me really wants to refrain from basing ESPN today. Honest.
Maybe I just need a dose of reality and realize where exactly soccer and the World Cup remain in the U.S. media pecking order.
On the one hand, it was nice that ESPNEWS actually announced the U.S. roster today live. On the other, could it have been in less inglorious, rapid, rushed fashion?
In every other country, this is major, primetime-worthy news. In America? The middle of the day of a high-on-the-dial cable station.
And listening to various hosts talk to Bob Bradley on the phone was just painful.
The lack of pomp-and-circumstance in the unveiling of the roster can be justified.
Would it kill ESPN to move away from the Dallas Braden perfect game follow up for five minutes of discussion on the roster?
I know ESPN's usual hosts probably couldn't differentiate Sacha Kljestan from Sasha Grey. And I know its usual talking heads stay away from mentioning soccer (Skip Bayless, et al) because it would only prove their general level of ignorance and incompetence for all other sports.
All I'm asking is a little talk. A little discussion.
Dust off Alexi Lalas for a segment. Hell, even bring out Mr. Onions for some "analysis".
I just don't get ESPN. You watch a game on it, and every commercial break features that geo-political ad narrated by Bono. ESPN clearly wants people to watch the World Cup.
But why, on the day the U.S. announces its roster, does it barely pay attention and or care? Isn't this the way to foster growth more than using the voice of rock star nobody under the age of 35 cares about?
Oh well, it's getting better, but we still have a long way to go.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton)
DEFENDERS (9): Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (12): DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), José Torres (Pachuca)
FORWARDS (6): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla), Eddie Johnson (Aris Thessaloniki)
Labels: bob bradley, charlie davies, ESPN sucks, Soccer, USMNT, world cup 2010
You would have thought at the very least that this announcement could have earned a 30 minute special of its own on the main network. I mean, it's only 2pm on a Tuesday! Do we really need *another* Barry Melrose appearance?
Also, kind of wonder what kind of performance it would take from Freddy Adu to get Bradley the Elder to swallow his reservations and give the kid another shot.
Isn't the obvious message to anyone who actually is healthy that you're simply not good enough? Isn't Freddy worth at least a camp look? Frustrating. Maybe his teammates don't like him either?
I think we all got sucked in by the story of CD and his fun, enthusiastic tweets. Great for him that he worked so hard, but with Sochaux and the Elder both deciding he wasn't ready, maybe the weak link was the quality of the reporting we got from CD's own tweeting fingers. It is too bad, and the US could have really used a healthy Davies, but that player (obviously) doesn't exist in summer of 2010.
xt - You are where Cardillo and I were during the opening round of the Confed Cup when the usmnt looked so unable to attack. The Adu we want to exist simply doesn't. He pisses coaches off and doesn't track back on defense (so no move to Fulham - Uncle Roy won't play that sh*t). Freddy obviously has some skills, but the other issues seem to far outweigh the positives. The Adu omission was inevitable and (for once)it doesn't bug me.
'Normal' ESPN talent couldn't discuss the USMNT with any authority so they kind of passed. My guess is that ESPN didn't see enough of an upside for bringing in their soccer people in order to discuss today's announcements to garner meager mid-day ratings. Maybe if USSoccer had made announcement at 8pm Eastern - it might have merited more professional attention?
Who should have been left off for Adu? The only guy I can come up with is Robbie Rogers, maybe Kljestan, but he is a Bradley guy. While the forwards are not dynamic, its going to be a good competition between any of them not named Altidore to go to SA. If a guy like Johnson or Gomez goes off in training camp and it continues in the exhibitions, and Ching stinks, does Bradley take Ching anyway because he is a target man and a Bradley guy and because they were not a part of things during qualifiers?
If Onyewu does not play in Italy the rest of the way, and then stinks in training camp, does Bradley keep him anyway?
The wings bear watching too. Holden hasn't played much, neither has Beasley. But if you want to count Dempsey as a forward, you have to bring them both for depth.
Here's hoping that Clark does something stupid to keep him from going, but with Bradley Jr., also being a guy who you can count on to miss a game due to yellow cards, do you bring him along?
Any chance of us play a 3-5-2 so we don't have to worry about Left Back? Outside of the England game, I don't think the other two teams post risks down the flanks, so you could get away with it until the knockout round.
Adu? It just isn't happening, though I'd rather see him than Findley, who it seems Bradley wishes would morph into a Soup Kitchen version of Davies.
As for ESPN, they'll bring in an analyst and have an eight-minute segment on a regular season NBA game. Isn't this bigger news. If they didn't own the World Cup rights, I could see ignoring it, but c'mon now. You're hyping the tournament daily and then fail on the biggest news day for the U.S. in months.
And yeah, I've seen way too much of Barry Melrose. Enough already!
The Davies thing is a bummer, but I think if we're all honest with ourselves he's not the kind of player that you can bring in so soon after a horrific injury. With his specific skill set, you just can't put him out there if he's not 100 percent. He's just not going to get by defenders with skill and guile.
The funny thing is that after Davies how many lightning fast forwards does the US pool have? Findley, EJ? It's kind of mind bottling that the US can't produce more speadsters in the Davies mold yet we have Conner Caseys growing on trees.
Hard to believe EJ is the fastest striker in the pool.
I'm an SBI reader - mostly because of the number of posts and the updates, but between the banal "analysis" of both Ives and his writers and especially by the hoi polloi - it is always really refreshing to come to TOP.
I agree with 30f - we could use the Confed cup/Azteca Davies, but that was lost when he broke curfew and got into a car with a drunk driver. So we got to go to war with what we got. You would think that within the 30 there would be space for Adu - but apparently BB has a thing for porno staches. Who knew?
Maybe this is for the best for Freddy and for CD. Just like Ives last piece for Fox Soccer on Jozy -
"The future for __________________ (insert whatever young American who hasn't met expectations - Freddy, CD9, EJ...) depends on his attitude."
'Normal' ESPN talent couldn't discuss the USMNT with any authority so they kind of passed.
I sometimes wonder if there isn't some kind of a conflict between Corporate and the on-air talent and production staff when it comes to mainstreaming soccer coverage and integrating it with the regular SportsCenter fare. Like, maybe there have been orders from on high to do this, because they have invested in Euro and the World Cup and now the EPL and La Liga, but the culture on the ground at Bristol hasn't really adjusted to those facts yet, and they resent the imposition. The anchors all seem to act like little kids being made to eat vegetables when they have to do soccer highlights, and they constantly screw things up in unprofessional ways that they don't when it comes to more mainstream sports. If you can pronounce foreign names when it comes to baseball, tennis, and even auto racing, surely you can figure it out for soccer too. C'mon.
You can tell just by watching regularly that there has been a real commitment to getting more EPL and Spain highlights into Sportscenter, and that it's probably here to stay, so why hasn't the quality and research and pronunciation and so on come up to snuff? There's definitely been no real desire to learn or improve over time, and it shows. I think a lot of them hope it will just go away once the World Cup is over, but this time they're mistaken on that, as ESPN has made long term investments now, especially globally. Hopefully once that sinks in, it will start to seem more normal and routine and they'll start treating it just like everything else they cover and doing it right.
As far as CD9 goes, it's a real bummer. I just hope he was genuinely no-go, and it isn't just Bradley being an imagination-free wuss. I'd definitely rather have CD at 85% for a late game sub than Findley at 100. We already know he can't do shit, while with Davies there is at least upside. But if he's not even close to 85%, it's the right call, though in that case I'd rather have Adu, problems or no, because at least he brings something. If we're chasing a game and are reduced to bringing on Findley or EJ in totally vain hopes of getting a goal, I'm just going to hurl. And that doesn't even allow for the very real possibility of him actually starting one of those guys. It had better be Deuce in the hole and Holden or Beasley or someone on the wing, but I wouldn't bet on it.
JD - I am with you and sort of not. I have had all these thoughts about soccer getting the short end of the stick from major media and especially espn. But I have come to believe that I was being overly sensitive.
This announcement today was in the middle of a Tuesday and it was to name 30 players, only a very few of them who could possibly called a 'surprise' - even to us relatively in the know. Plus, 7 of those 30 are going home and will be of zero consequence next month. A country like Brazil loves soccer a million times more than the US does AND there are genuine decisions made by the manager when he names his 30. The Elder doesn't have to decide today to leave Ronaldinho home. There was zero chance of anything at all 'newsworthy' - other than the CD decision - from The Elder today.
I think the espn anchors also clown on funny names and screw stuff up on other minor sports - but we don't pick up on those. They joke on NASCAR driver's redneck names and proudly mis-pronounce Eastern Euro NHL players all the time. Not Alexander Ovechkin - at least now that he has become a star. I recall no one on TV being able to say 'Nowitzki' a while back. I'm not saying that dis-respecting soccer is 'no big deal' - but I am saying that it is not all that unusual.
I also think that espn IS hiring more and more soccer people. But their on-air staff is soo massive, that even ten (15?) people there who know where Gooch used to play before AC Milan are a drop in the larger bucket. As to why none of those folks were in front of a camera today - I guess there was little financial benefit and probably some cost to bring the soccer types into the studio for kind of a 'meh' story.
Davies has likely been vastly overstating his health/progress for these last months. What else would you expect? he WANTS to play in the World Cup and every athlete tells the trainer 'I'm fine' even as he is limping and trying to not wince too obviously.
In a way, yeah, I see your point 30.
Yes, it was the middle of the day, no big news, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Why, though, does ESPN spend untold tens of millions -- if not more -- to acquire the rights and broadcast the whole damn World Cup, then totally ignore a huge news day?
They couldn't carve time away from the previous night's NBA discussion to talk about the roster? Even if it wasn't revelatory, it's still news.
But it goes back to depth, the typical ESPN analyst/talking head can yap about hoops, football or baseball until the cows come home, but when its soccer (or the NHL) they need specialists.
As a fan all I wanted was some debate or talk in the immediate wake, not Allen Hopkins trying to ask Bob Bradley a question from their cell phones.
You're right, we are nit-picking and bitching because other sports get the shaft, too.
Still, why pump all this money into the hype from the marketing side and then ignore it from a journalistic perspective?
And for once, I didn't mind seeing Mr. Onions later in the day.
Sure the 30 man roster for the US isn't as newsworthy as say Ronaldinho and Pato being dropped from BRazil's squad. But, ESPNNews shows the same 30 minutes of highlights and clips for 18 straight hours, why not interrupt it for 5 minutes of discussion by some of the soccer talking heads, even if by cell phone? Is that really too much to ask?
The ESPN argument is a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Does anyone care what Tommy Smyth thinks of the the US team? It would probably be a similar argument about ESPN's personalities being insane.
In the small amount of ESPN I watched yesterday, I saw they listed like eight names and was surprised that one of them was Jose Torres. I'm calling that as "the story" they'll go with - an American playing in Mexico, our biggest rival.
I don't think it's that surprising at all that ESPN didn't make a big deal of this announcement. The FA Cup Final is still next weekend (I think I read that ESPN is acquiring the rights to this next year), La Liga still has a week to go (which they have rights to), and the Champions League Final is still to be played (which they may bid for again in the future). Why take away attention for that over this announcement? It's a preliminary list with nothing major. I would still expect daily reports once camp starts up, maybe even some gimmicky thing on who makes the last spot, and a big deal when the announcement is made June 1.
Like people have already said, the biggest "surprise" is that a guy who was in a life-threatening car accident seven months ago didn't make it. Other than that, there's really nothing to discuss here. It's not like Benzema, Ronaldinho, or Totti got left home. He left out a guy who hasn't played in seven months and a guy who has been decent in the Greek league.
I'm with Nick. How does Pato miss Brazil's roster? The only thing I can think of is the injury issue, but come on. Take a chance, he scores every 15 minutes when he's not actually injured.