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.