michael bradley is legit. hes a complete player...what about him frustrates you? the same things were said about claudio reyna...he was our best and most consistent player during the world cup run of 2002. torres should be playing more, but benny isnt getting enough playing time with his club and it definitely shows. that was one of the few aspects of bruce arena's management i appreciated. if a player isnt good enough to be playing for his club, then why should he be good enough to play for his country? (altidore is the exception, not the rule)
That's my point...i'm not blaming you for rooting against the US given the rivalary with Mexico...but stop pretending like you're rooting for the US and just expect more!!!
just seems to play sloppy, lazy passes, etc. ive only gotten to see feilhaber play once but he definately looked sharper in that one outting than the 5-6 outtings ive seen bradley in.
He's a good player, but he shouldn't be an automatic starter for every game. And Reyna may have played a similar style but he's light years ahead of Bradley in terms of being able to control the game. My biggest complaint about Bradley is that he does a lot of things well but doesn't exceed at anything. He doesn't control the offense like Reyna could, but he's also not a destroyer in the middle that breaks up attacks, most of the time when he tries he commits stupid fouls. He's a tweener central mid and we don't have anybody with a complimentary skill set to pair with him so one of our other central mids gets stuck with him and neither of them play as well as they could.
That's why I think Jermaine Jones will be a huge addition to the team. Jones will allow the other CM to play a more free role (whether that be Bradley, Adu, Feilhaber, whoever).
It will be Brazil vs Spain in the end. Iraq has been playing well. BTW I laughed at suggestion that ESPN phoned in the red card.
I think it's safe to assume the other CM will be Michael Bradley, and I'm not sure if giving him more of a free role will help that much.
true. i havent seen jones play, but from what i hear, playing him would definitely make up for adu's defensive shortcomings.
The US team does have that player and you already mentioned him. Adu. Freddy and Jozy are best friends on and off the pitch. Look at matches they've played together and you see they combine better than any midfielder and forward on the US team. Stu is not getting called up as an attacking mid anytime soon in my opinion. If he is called up it will be to be used on the wings as he is versatile enough for that. Dr. Ludicrous, Donovan is another versatile player that can be moved around to play on the left or right. The one player the US has that can set up goals is Adu and that's been proven over the past couple of years when he's seen minutes with the national team. The excuse about not getting PT for club doesn't hold water as we've all seen Jozy, Benny, DMB on the field without playing regularly for their clubs. I should also mention that Bradley Jr wasn't a regular at Heerenveen when he began receiving regular playing time and starts for team USA. Also, Torres is another brilliant midfielder that should be seeing regular playing time along with Adu. It is insane how Bradley is handling his team. Torres made a mistake in the first few minutes against CR but then turned in a very good 1st half and got subbed out. Hasn't seen the field since then. DMB and Benny seem to be on the field a lot lately but don't seem to be playing for their clubs. Torres is at a strong Pachuca team and plays regularly for them.
You must be talking about Clint Dempsey. It's widely agreed that he is the king of the dribbles that go nowhere and the hospital pass. I'm not a big Bradley Jr fan as I agree w/ Dr. Ludicrous that he is a tweener that doesn't seem to excel but is just alright at what he does. When it was time to push him to Dmid, he did alright and when it was time for him to push up(bar the miss vs Italy) he was alright. He is one of the few players that has shown heart this tournament. Feilhaber has been ok but nothing special. To say he's looked sharper than Bradley is amazing to me. The less said about Clint the better. He needs to sit for a match or two. Watching the laziness of Conor Casey reminds you of what Brian Ching brings or even a Kenny Cooper.
no, im talking about bradley. clint hasnt been too hot recently... i think hes trying to force the issue and is not letting the game come to him.
I do wonder what the last 4 games for the US would have been with a healthy Ching. I'm not exactly sure that Connor Casey would do well in the O-30 league I play in. I don't see any real ability. Being the leading scorer in the MLS is not something that should gain you a national team spot on it's own. I know many players that are high scoring that have no skill. Sometimes, you're just in the right place at the right time. There's no skill to that and it certainly won't work on the international stage.
REALLY? REALLY. Read this thread from its entirety again, sir and stop making up ***** about me bringing any comparisons up. The FIRST post that even mentions ANYTHING about Mexico was post #39, and even when I respond to it I don't mention any country in post #41. Even at page 4, and then post #66 I don't say crap about Mexico. It's everyone's favorite and most-decorated poster of CF.net that brings it up AGAIN with post #80. STFU, you liar. I offer discussions about how your country is playing, while answering to questions about why my team isn't playing there, so now I can't even say that? When idiots start asking dumb questions about the Confederations Cup and who is in and who is not and who is better than someone else, that's when I answer.
Eygpt shocked Italy with a 1-0 win today, I watched a little bit of the game, the win was no fluke, well deserved. I think you've confused soccer with football.
I think he is just tired and needs a break. That combined with the fact that he is turning into the biggest show pony around is just not good for team USA. It's all good and well to have and use your tricks but Clints for the most part don't amount to much and makes him look silly when either he loses the ball, or he loses the ball, falls and glares at the ref expecting a call. Team USA should not expect to be on the same level as most of the other teams in the FIFA top 10 rankings when it comes to getting the benefit of the doubt from referees. Bradley as much as I hate the nepotism that's been going on with his dad, has been as solid as can be for the US team.
He's a box to box midfielder, which is actually a complete CM. He doesn't just sit back defensively and destroy, and he doesn't just play up the pitch and not contribute defensively. The problem with the US isn't Bradley, it's that he doesn't have a suitable partner. I've long said that if he was anyone other than Bob Bradley's son, he wouldn't get 95% of the flack he gets. It's going to be an interesting year once Jones arrives and some new talent gets to impress in the Gold Cup. I think we'll see a lot of the players fans are calling for like Holden, Adu, and Torres next month in the Gold Cup. Eventually, I think the US's best chance of competing at the World Cup will be fielding a team with 3 CMs, we simply don't have the talent to compete in midfield if we're 4-4-2. Bradley played the right team against Italy, and I would have really loved to see what would have happened had Clark not gotten sent off. Today, on the other hand, I saw the line up and knew we didn't have a chance. Believe if of not, I've actually liked what I've seen out of the defense this tournament, with the exception of Bornstein. Yes, we've given up goals, but it's hard to defend when you have midfielders handing the ball to the other team. I like the Demerit-Onyewu partnership, and I'd consider keeping them and moving Bocanegra to LB, where he plays for his club team. I think that helps strengthen possibly the weakest spot on the team. Other than set pieces, Spector has looked good at RB and he should keep his spot til Cherundolo gets back, then maybe try him at LB, if Bob is set on keeping Bocanegra at CB. I think Jones is a lock at DM once he's available. He's much better than anyone else we have at that spot. That will free Bradley to play his natural game and not have to sit back so much. That leaves Torres, Feilhaber, and possibly Holden to fight it out for the other CM spot my proposed 4-3-3. In the attack spots, I think Donovan and Altidore are locks with two of them. That leaves Dempsey, Adu, and Holden (possibly Torres) to fight out the last spot. So my team would look like this for WC 2010: Howard Dolo Demerit Onyewu Boca Jones Bradley CM Donovan AM Altidore
