Posted by Creaven on August 31, 2010 under Media, USMNT | 
Let me be clear: The person responsible for Bob Bradley getting a four-year contract extension is the president of the United States Soccer Federation, Sunil Gulati. In the end, it was his decision and he deserves the majority of praise or scorn depending on the results.
That being said, the small, yet influential United States soccer press corp are, at least, somewhat responsible for Bradley getting a second chance. In the face of significant evidence, no one with a large platform came out and said what seemed obvious to me and others — Bradley didn’t deserve to stay on for four more years. Strangely, no one among the U.S. soccer media elite stood up and took this stand. If Gulati really wanted to keep Bradley, he should have had to explain his decision to a hostile media. But instead of being under pressure to show Bradley the door, Gulati was, amazingly, under pressure to keep Bradley. Maybe Gulati would have made the same decision no matter what the media said, but he definitely kept him when media said he should.
Why did the media give Bradley a pass?
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Posted by Creaven on August 30, 2010 under England, Premier League |
After outscoring its opposition 14-0 in the first three matches of the season, its seems on the surface Chelsea is primed to stroll to its second consecutive Premiership title. But one, big problem has generally been ignored by the soccer media: Chelsea doesn’t have enough players.
Actually, saying, “Chelsea doesn’t have enough players,” is like saying “Wigan’s defense is poor,” or “Fulham struggles on the road.” The situation is so serious I believe Chelsea’s lack of bodies will probably cost the most talented team in the league the title.
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Posted by Creaven on August 23, 2010 under Premier League, United States |
I don’t want to brag or nothing (awwww, who am I kidding, I really want to brag about this), but since the Gold Cup last year I wrote time, and time and time again about how good Stuart Holden is.
In January, I wrote he was significantly better than Ricardo Clark; In March, I said if there was a draft and I had to choose between Clint Dempsey and Holden — I would pick Holden; In June, I argued he should start against England in the World Cup. Holden ended up playing four minutes in the World Cup (enjoy Bob Bradley Aston Villa!!!) and though I easily could write 1,500 words just on that, for my own well being, and yours, I won’t.
But after watching Holden play 90 minutes in Bolton’s first two Premiership matches this season it’s worth trying to answer the question in the headline: How good is Stuart Holden? The former Houston Dynamo player (I still chuckle when I write Houston “Dynamo”) didn’t exactly look like a Xavi clone against Fulham and West Ham, but he did look like an above-average Premiership central midfielder. Is he?
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Posted by Creaven on August 19, 2010 under Premier League |
Very quietly, Owen Coyle has proven himself one of the savviest English Premier League managers in the transfer market. He understands basic economic principles too many managers at the highest level simply don’t get.
The key to the transfer market, like any market, is to master risk versus reward. Ideally, a manager wants to buy cheap assets (players) that have the potential to yield big returns. Coyle has done this brilliantly. In his first eight months as manager at Bolton, Coyle has spent virtually no money and improved his squad significantly.
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Posted by Creaven on August 5, 2010 under USMNT, United States |
Let’s say you think Bob Bradley has done a great job as United States national team head coach. You point to the U.S. winning the 2007 Gold Cup, finishing second in the 2009 Confederations Cup and a very respectable round of 16 appearance in the 2010 World Cup.
You’re willing to forgive some lineup head-scratchers (Robbie Findley, Ricardo Clark) because he instilled a “never give up” mentality and made clever tactical changes when he realized he made a mistake. You also think the U.S. can’t get a better coach than Bradley, his players support him and he’s going to give 110 percent over the next four years.
Even if you believe all of these things, I don’t, but if you do, you should still adamantly be against Bradley continuing his tenure as U.S. men’s national team head coach. Why? History!
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Posted by Creaven on August 4, 2010 under Premier League |
About a month ago, when the first “Manchester City wants to sell Ireland” stories began popping up, I assumed it was British “journalists” trying to fill space in their newspapers. Ireland was a top Premiership player two years, if nothing else he could be one of the best impact subs in the league. There was no way City would let him go.
Well…the “Sell Ireland” momentum has continued and it seems it’s only a matter of time before City hands him over to a team it needs to finish above in the table. The most likely scenario reported is City will send a chunk of cash (my guess is £18 million) plus Stephen Ireland to Aston Villa for James Milner. The Abu Dhabi group has made some head-scratching moves since it took over, but this will take the cake.
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Posted by Creaven on August 3, 2010 under Premier League |
With the English Premier League less than two weeks away, it’s time for IntelligentSoccer.com to get over its World Cup hangover. There’s a lot of preseason story lines (Are Manchester City title contenders? Is Cesc leaving or staying? Is Chelsea too old to repeat?) but what’s getting a lot of attention is the new 25-man roster rule.
The commentary about the new rule has been ridiculous. I’ve heard everything from the rule will help develop young English players, will hurt the development of young English players, 25 players isn’t enough for an extended period of time, it will cost senior player jobs, it helps smaller clubs, it hurts bigger club and so on. It seems everyone is just guessing what the consequences of this rule is going to be.
Everyone, except people who play Football Manager. As someone who plays the terribly addicting football simulation way too much, I know how to work the system. I’ve played multiple seasons with the 25-senior player limit so I fancy myself an expert.
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Posted by Creaven on July 13, 2010 under World Cup |
It’s over. No more early morning games, no more enticing over/under bets, no more national anthems, no more complaining about vuvuzela’s or the Jabulani, no more questionable calls, no more goal celebrations, no more Martin Tyler, no more Paul the Octopus, no more Diego Forlan free kicks, no more Germany counter-attacks, no more Dutch karate kicks, no more Spanish 1-0 victories and no more World Cup.
As soon as Mexico and South Africa kicked off the tournament, I braced myself knowing the World Cup will eventually end, but it still sucks when it did. I feel like an eight-year-old who just had a fantastic summer vacation but now has to go back to school. The difference is the eight year old has to wait nine months before summer starts up again, while soccer fans have four years.
But before we start looking forward (And there is a lot to look forward too: The Premiership starts in less than 40 days. Is Landon Donovan going to leave MLS for good? Will Bob Bradley stay the U.S. coach? Who is Fernando Torres going to play for next season? Can José Mourinho become the first coach to win three Champions Leagues with three different teams?) its time to review what we all digested the last five weeks.
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Posted by Creaven on July 11, 2010 under World Cup |
With it’s 1-0 victory over the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup final, this Barcelona team, errrr, I mean this Spain team, should be considered one of the best national teams ever and has a chance to be considered the greatest.
Not only is Spain currently the reigning European and World Cup champs, but La Roja has lost only two matches in the last two years and during that run they had the longest undefeated streak (35 matches) and longest winning streak (15 matches) ever.
So why has Spain been so good?
There’s a few reasons: Spain has two world-class strikers (Fernando Torres and David Villa), a couple solid center defenders (Carles Puyol and Gerrard Pique) and probably the best goalie in the world (Iker Casillas). But what has put Spain on a different level the last few years is the play of its undersized central midfielders — Andrés Iniesta and Xavi.
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Posted by Creaven on July 8, 2010 under World Cup |
All Dutch and Spanish fans owe one big thank you (or, dank je wel; or, gracias) to a specific club team in their respected countries.
Ten of the Netherlands 23 World Cup players — five of whom will probably start against Spain — were part of Ajax’s famed youth system. Barcelona’s academy (La Masia) has contributed nine players to their country’s national team and as many as seven could start in the final.
There are obvious reasons why Ajax’s and Barcelona’s youth academy’s have been so successful: a winning history, great coaches, money. But it’s not as though they have a monopoly on history, coaches and cash. Other clubs do the same and haven’t produced a world-class, or even first-team, player in years (Chelsea). So how has Ajax and Barcelona done it?
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Let me be clear: The person responsible for Bob Bradley getting a four-year contract extension is the president of the United States Soccer Federation, Sunil Gulati. In the end, it was his decision and he deserves the majority of praise or scorn depending on the results.
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