U.S. National Team: Naming the 30
Posted by Creaven on May 10, 2010 under USMNT, United States, World Cup | 
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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:
I really tried to care about the Gold Cup. After the group stages, I got pumped up; I told myself I was going to have the best Gold Cup commentary on the Internet. Then the United States played Panama in the quarterfinals and I fell asleep in about the 20th minute. Then the U.S. played Honduras is the semifinals and I fell asleep in about the 30th minute. Gold Cup matches were like taking NyQuil is visual form.
I’ve actually felt a little bad I wasn’t covering the United States in the Gold Cup like I did in the Confederations Cup, but then I thought, “Wait, it’s the Gold Cup! The U.S. is going up against Grenada and Jay Heaps is getting playing time. Who cares!?!?” But I do have a soccer Web site and I should write something, so here are some random thoughts…
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.
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