Response to Jamie Trecker’s article, “The Good, the Bad and the
Bradley” and the plethora of comments it drew.
Kind of like a claymore mine
going off. Plenty of stuff out there;
only some hit the target, plenty of collateral damage though.
Some comments were actually
written by knowledgeable fans and some were just downright tosh, a broad
spectrum of views always makes fun reading.
Mr. Trecker, this is one of your
better articles, plenty of stuff in here that’s good, some bad as well.
The good.
USA had a successful summer; Gold
Cup win = Confederations Cup invite in 2009, objective achieved.
CONCACAF isn’t great; US should
expect qualification to every World Cup from that federation.
CONMEBOL is tougher than CONCACAF. OCF is obviously the worst federation, next
are AFC and CONCACAF.
Playing away games during the
2010 qualifying campaign against tougher opponents would help the US become more
battle hardened. How about a July 4th
friendly in the Azteca?
The MLS is technically average, look
at how the US MNT deals with corners and free kicks, apart from Bocanegra the
US MNT is mediocre.
Keller would be a good addition
to US SOCCER.
The bad.
Howard had a much better season
than Friedel; he’ll be starting to peak for South Africa.
The next nine months are going to
be more experimental than critical. When
the games are actually competitive and not friendly we shall see how good Bob
and US MNT are.
It’ll take a generation to
improve the level of technical ability in the US. , Freidel’s academy is a step
in the right direction.
Bob Bradley took a team of mostly
second stringers to Copa America,
four starters from the Gold Cup and some wild cards.
Considering the team they took
they had one half of stubborn football against Argentina and one tired half. Against Paraguay they opened up a tough
South American defense; that has only allowed one goal in their two other Group
C games; on numerous occasions. Had any
of the US MNT possessed Altidore’s finishing skills they would have won the game,
probably.
Against Colombia Bradley showed a
distinct lack of management skill. He
played a team obviously not good enough for international football and they got
beat by a poor Colombian team. Had he
played the starting eleven from the Paraguay
game the US would have at
least made it a contest and probably beat Colombia, building confidence and
team spirit in the process.
Squad members for an
international tournament are not there to play they are there to get experience
of the US MNT international set up, please, Heath Pearce was terrible at left
back.
The caveat for the Copa is that
Bradley played 442 not the 451 of the Gold Cup
The rest.
Bradley shows some good coaching
flashes and some bad ones. When he
starts whittling the squad down to a core of starters then we can start to
better assess him. I do think he has
used this summer well. He got a Confederations
Cup spot and saw 50 odd players. His use
of 442 at the Copa was interesting although the US did tend to drift back into 451.
Bradley and Rongen will need to
sit down after the U20 WC and take a look at what they have. For some players in their early 20’s US MNT
is a pipe dream, other players from the three competitions should have already
booked their spot in South Africa, some players are maybes.
I actually like Bob Bradley’s
management so far, whether he was the best option for the US MNT remains to be
seen.
The MLS set up is very American,
i.e. similar to the other major US
team sports. In this set up it is
difficult for quality teenagers to play professionally. Globally football develops its talent very,
very young, for example Rooney and Messi.
Having no salary cap does allow
teams to dominate, but it is better for a league to have ‘big’ clubs and
smaller clubs. In the Premiership, La
Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga you have an example of how good you have to be to
win.
Parity is great for business and
TV but is bad for the sport. This is a
dilemma US SOCCER and MLS needs to address, relegation and promotion are
football essentials.
A 30 game season is about right
for the MLS. Interminable playoffs make
the league less meaningful than it should be.
Coaching is the major problem
throughout all levels of football in the US.
For example, Kreis at Real Salt Lake may scrape a few wins together, he
was playing last year, what coaching skills does he have, what qualifications
to show his competence at coaching does he have? Quality coaching produces more players with
quality.
Mr. Trecker, you’ve written about
this before.
Grass roots’ coaching in the US is often
determined by who has free weekends, not who is best qualified.
Realistically, Bradley has a
chance to take a US MNT to the QF of the World Cup; that is if Bradley’s
experimentations bear fruit, his star players perform, he decides on a
formation, he has a little luck with group selection and his team finds a
finisher; in South Africa,
any more would be miraculous.
Bob Bradley chooses youth and inexperience for the Copa America.
The game against Argentina will be a baptism of fire for the US team. The Argentinians are looking to win the Copa
and will be fielding an almost full strength squad for the tournament. They will want to crush the US team to get
their Copa challenge off to a rousing start.
Costa
Rica accepted the provisional invitation then when the US rejected the
initial CONMEBOL invite. The US subsequently
changed their mind.
The US has accepted an invite from
another footballing federation to play in a major tournament. Every other nation will be fielding full
strength; or almost full strength; squads.
The USA
seems to be content as make weights.
Bob Bradley’s best team would;
likely; get stuffed by Argentina,
Paraguay and Colombia is certainly teams the USA
could play as equals.
Colombia are currently 31 in FIFA
rankings, games in 2006 and 2007 include victories over Panama and Venezuela,
Honduras, Montenegro and Switzerland losses against Uruguay and a draw with
Japan Nothing in Colombia’s recent
record suggests they would dominate a full strength US team. Angel, one of their top current players only
has 9 goals in 33 internationals, plays in New York
and won’t be going to Venezuela.
Paraguay, ranked by FIFA at 37
have a recent record of 1 3 3 in the past year, both winning and losing to
Mexico, losing to Colombia and Chile and drawing with Austria and Bolivia and
Australia, they will be stronger in South America but again not a team a strong
US side need have any fear of. They have
a target man in the Bundesliga player, Cruz but a scarcity of goals from
elsewhere.
If Bob Bradley and US Soccer
chose to the US could well
have faced Brazil in the
group stages or perhaps games against Venezuela,
Mexico or Chile.
Instead a last place in Group C
awaits the US MNT. Yes there will be
some stand out performances but too little experience to do any real
damage.
The USA
is a guest nation in the Copa, thus clubs in Europe
have no obligation to release players, so Dempsey, Bocanegra and Howard will
likely return to their clubs. The US can still
field a strong, competitive squad.
Bradley, in a press release
talked about international experience a role for young players as the World Cup
2010 draws closer. “Copa America
is going to be a great opportunity for our younger players to gain invaluable
experience at the highest international level.
This group has many of the faces that could play a role in 2008 and 2009
when our focus turns to our ultimate goal of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup
in South Africa. "
The U-20 World Cup is where the
younger players gain that experience.
Bob Bradley may be taking a leaf
from Jack Charlton’s book, the English manager; who took the Republic of Ireland
to a World Cup QF loss to eventual winners, Italy in 1990; had a method where he
blooded his younger players in international friendlies, this was deemed to be
partially responsible for Irish success under Charlton. The squad for the Copa America 2007 may well
produce players who will be viable options in the 2010 World Cup qualifying
games.
With 2010 still a long way off in
footballing terms Bradley may be doing the right thing for the US.
I think taking a strong squad to Venezuela to
build on the Gold Cup success is the best move for US Soccer but I’m not the
manager. Bradley’s long term view may
yet reap rewards. International football
is a different animal from club football, the pressures are different and the
schedules spread out and what makes a good club manager doesn’t necessarily
translate at the higher level, but if Bradley’s confidence in taking a long
term view works then we may see the stars of tomorrow emerge in Venezuela.
US MNT 2007 Copa America Squad
No Name Position Birthdate Caps/G Club
18 Keller, Kasey GK 11/29/69 100/0 Bor.
M'gladbach (Germany)
23 Guzan, Brad GK 09/09/84 1/0 Chivas USA (MLS)
12 Conrad, Jimmy D 02/12/77 21/0 Kansas City Wizards (MLS)
7 Califf, Danny D 03/17/80 14/1 Aalborg
BK (Denmark)
13 Bornstein, Jonathan D 11/07/84 7/1 Chivas
USA
(MLS)
6 Pearce, Heath D 08/13/84 6/0 FC
Nordsjælland (Denmark)
3 DeMerit, Jay D 12/04/79 3/0 Watford
FC (England)
4 Boswell, Bobby D 03/15/83 2/0 D.C.
United (MLS)
2 Wynne, Marvell D 05/08/86 0/0 Toronto FC (MLS)
15 Moor, Drew D 01/15/84 0/0 FC Dallas (MLS)
14 Olsen, Ben M 05/03/77 34/6 D.C. United (MLS)
5 Feilhaber, Benny M 01/19/85 7/1 Hamburger
SV (Germany)
19 Clark, Ricardo M 05/10/83 6/0 Houston Dynamo (MLS)
21 Mapp, Justin M 10/18/84 5/0 Chicago Fire (MLS)
11 Gaven, Eddie M 10/25/86 3/0 Colombus
Crew (MLS)
17 Beckerman, Kyle M 04/23/82 1/0 Colorado Rapids (MLS)
16 Kljestan, Sacha M 09/09/85 1/0 Chivas
USA
(MLS)
25 Nguyen, Lee M 10/07/86 1/0 PSV Eindhoven
(Holland)
9 Johnson, Eddie F 03/31/84 26/10 Kansas City Wizards (MLS)
20 Twellman, Taylor F 02/29/80 24/6 New England Revolution (MLS)
10 Davies, Charlie F 06/25/86 1/0 Hammarby
IF (Sweden)
8 Gomez, Herculez F 04/06/82 0/0 Colorado Rapids (MLS)
Check out articles at USSoccer.com
and ESPNsoccernet.com; by Steve Davis; for a more thorough rundown of whose
going to Venezuela.
