Posted by Creaven on May 11, 2010 under USMNT, United States, 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 USMNT, United States, 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 USMNT, United States |
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 December 3, 2009 under USMNT, United States, World Cup |
At about 12:o3 p.m. EST on Friday, someone on ESPN (probably Alexi Lalas or John Harkes) will give the following monologue:
“This is the day we’ve been waiting for. Trying to make predictions before the draw is foolish because no one knows who’s playing who. It’s all about matchups! Depending on the group, the U.S. could be a strong quarterfinal candidate or it might be a candidate to leave South Africa without a point. This is so exciting! Finally we’re going to know what the U.S. chances are at the 2010 World Cup.”
This, ladies and gentleman, is bullshit.
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Algeria, Brazil, Cameroon, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Chile, Denmark, Didier Drogba, France, Ghana, Greece, Ivory Coast, John Harkes, Maurice Edu, Oguchi Onyewu, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Switzerland, United States, World Cup
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