Posted by Creaven on May 11, 2010 under United States, USMNT, World Cup | 
I set a low bar for Bob Bradley and he easily cleared it today when he named his 30-man preliminary roster.
Like I wrote yesterday, all I wanted him to do was:
1. Name only three goalies.
2. Don’t name less than 30 players.
3. Leave Frankie Hejduk in Columbus.
Pass, pass and pass. Plus, he surprised me and left Conor Casey out of the squad. There’s nearly a zero percent chance I’m going to have to watch Casey rumble around a grass field in South Africa this summer and that makes me very happy.
The big news from the roster is Davies’ comeback falling short, so let’s start there…
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Tags: Aaron Lennon, Adam Johnson, Alejandro Bedoya, Ashley Young, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brad Guzan, Brian Ching, Carlos Bocanegra, Chad Marshall, Charlie Davies, Clarence Goodson, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, Eddie Johnson, Edson Buddle, England, Fabio Capello, Frankie Hejduk, Heath Pearce, Herculez Gomez, James Milner, Jay DeMerit, Joe Cole, Jonathan Bornstein, Jonathan Spector, Jose Torres, Jozy Altidore, Kyle Beckerman, Landon Donovan, Marcus Hahnemann, Maurice Edu, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Robbie Findley, Robbie Rogers, Sacha Kljestan, Shuan Wright-Phillips, Steve Cherundolo, Stuart Holden, Theo Walcott, Tim Howard, United States, World Cup
Posted by Creaven on May 10, 2010 under United States, USMNT, World Cup |
Let the Bob Bradley scrutiny begin!
In the next eight weeks or so, with an increasingly “intelligent” American soccer public, Bob Bradley will be under the microscope unlike any American soccer coach in history. Of course, it won’t compare to the pressure in England, Brazil, Germany, Argentina or most anywhere else for that matter. But thanks to a unbelievably favorable draw, Bradley is expected to get his team out of the group and if he doesn’t he won’t have a job come July.
The first of many dissected Bradley decisions comes tomorrow, when the preliminary 30-man roster is announced on ESPN News at 11 a.m. PST. The goal for Bradley when naming this roster should be a simple one: Don’t do anything stupid. That’s all I ask. If you name some player I’ve never heard of, fine, I’m cool with that. It’s your job to know something the rest of us don’t. But what’s not cool is if you do one of the following:
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Tags: Alejandro Bedoya, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brad Guzan, Brian Ching, Carlos Bocanegra, Chad Marshall, Charlie Davies, Clarence Goodson, Clint Dempsey, Conor Casey, DaMarcus Beasley, Eddie Johnson, Edson Buddle, Frankie Hejduk, Freddy Adu, Heath Pearce, Herculez Gomez, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstein, Jonathon Spector, Jose Torres, Jozy Altidore, Kyle Beckerman, Landon Donovan, Marcus Hahnemann, Maurice Edu, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Sacha Kljestan, Steve Cherundolo, Stuart Holden, Tim Howard
Posted by Creaven on March 4, 2010 under United States, USMNT |
In six months, the United States-Holland friendly on March 3 in Amsterdam will be remembered by U.S. fans for one of two reasons:
1. People will vaguely remember Jonathan Bornstein throwing away any chance of a starting spot at the World Cup and the national team resurrection of DaMarcus Beasley.
Or.
2. People will vividly remember it as the match Stuart Holden’s 2010 World Cup ended before it began.
I really hope it’s No. 1. Not only do I like Holden, but I think he’s a critical player for the U.S. If it was up to me, he would be the starting right midfielder against England even if everyone is healthy. But that’s assuming Nigel de Jong didn’t snap his shin in half (see the previous blog post).
When it comes to the team’s performance, I thought it was a mostly positive 2-1 defeat. To the grades…
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Tags: Alejandro Bedoya, Alexi Lalas, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Bob Ley, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clarence Goodson, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, Eddie Johnson, ESPN, Heath Pearce, Holland, Jay DeMerit, John Harkes, Jonathan Spector, José Francisco Torres, Jozy Altidore, JP Dellacamera, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Nigel de Jong, Robbie Findley, Stuart Holden, Tim Howard, Wesley Sneijder
Posted by Creaven on June 18, 2009 under United States, USMNT, World |
Brazil beating the United States 3-0 isn’t what made Thursday’s performance disgraceful. Brazil is one of the best teams in the world and, in short, the U.S. isn’t. But not showing up, playing scared, stupid mistakes, puzzling tactics and a lack of passion made the U.S.’s loss one of its most embarrassing in modern history. The match felt over after a couple minutes and was over after 20 minutes. To the grades….
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brazil, Clint Dempsey, Conor Casey, DaMarcus Beasley, ESPN, Jay DeMerit, Jnathan Spector, John Harkes, Jonathan Bornstien, Jozy Altidore, Kaka, Landon Donovan, Lucio, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Reece Davis, Robinho, Sacha Kljestian, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 15, 2009 under United States, USMNT, World |
Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press
“Yikes” is what I said when I saw Ricardo Clark throw his legs at Gennaro Guttuso.
“Awwwww,” is what I said when I saw the red card above Clark’s head.
I talked myself into the United States getting a draw against Italy (maybe even winning) but all my hope burst out of me when Clark was ejected in the 32nd minute. Donovan’s penalty did make me think,”well, you never know,” but it was impossible to ignore reality.
The top tactician in the world, up a man, with world-class players was going into halftime to figure out a strategy to break down a backline of Spector, DeMerit, Onyewu and Bornstien. There was no way the U.S. was going to hold on and they didn’t. In 45 minutes, 1-0 U.S. turned into 3-1 Italy. To the grades….
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, ESPN, Giuseppe Rossi, Italy, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Bornstien, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, JP Dellacamera, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Sacha Kljestan, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on June 7, 2009 under United States, USMNT |
Nuccio DiNuzzo, Chicago Tribune
The United States men’s soccer team is going to the World Cup. No, the States haven’t mathematically qualified, but it’s nearly impossible to envision a scenario in which the U.S. isn’t in South Africa. The 2-1 victory over visiting Honduras wasn’t very impressive and even a little lucky, but with their backs against the wall the U.S. responded with its most important victory in years. Though it was a victory for the players, it was another embarrassing performance by ESPN. To the grades…
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Carlos Bocanegra, Carlos Costly, Clint Dempsey, Conor Casey, DaMarcus Beasley, El Salvador, ESPN, Frankie Hejduk, Honduras, Jay Demirt, John Harkes, Jonathan Bornstein, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, JP Dellacamera, Kaka, Landon Donavan, Oguchi Onyewu, Pablo Mastoreni, Ricardo Clark, Steve Cherundolo, Tim Howard, United States, World Cup
Posted by Creaven on June 3, 2009 under United States, USMNT |
Ouch. It was literally painful watching the United States’ 3-0 defeat to Costa Rica Wednesday night. They never found a rhythm and after the first 15 minutes the match felt over (because it was). Adding insult to injury was listening to the nonsense of JP Dellacamera and John Harkes (especially Harkes) for two hours. Even the broadcasters didn’t show up.
Let’s go over the American players:
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Tags: Bob Bradley, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Costa Rica, DaMarcus Beasley, Freddy Adu, John Harkes, José Francisco Torres, Jozy Altidore, JP Dellacamera, Landon Donovan, Marvell Wynne, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Oneywu, Pablo Mastroeni, Sacha Kljestan, Tim Howard, United States