Posted by Creaven on May 26, 2010 under USMNT, United States | 
Well, well, well. Bob Bradley decides to give bloggers something to write about.
Seeing Robbie Findley standing with his teammates this afternoon was head-scratching. Bradley is taking three forwards that essentially have the same resume: Herculez Gomez, Edson Buddle and Findley. All are relatively fast, athletic, are playing well right now (except for Findley) and none of them, compared to other World Cup forwards, are good soccer players.
So, is it really worth taking all three of them instead of two, or maybe even one? Well, here is my argument for and against the Findley decision.
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Tags: Alejandro Bedoya, Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey, Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Robbie Findley, Roobie Rodgers, Stuart Holden, United States
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 March 3, 2010 under United States |
I usually don’t write short blog posts, but the Nigel De Jong tackle on Stuart Holden has fired me up.
On a scale of 1-10, it was a 9.3 on the horrific scale. It was way worse than Ryan Shawcross’ tackle on Aaron Ramsey last weekend. I have no idea what De Jong was thinking, but watching the play a half dozen time it looks like he was trying to break Holden’s leg. How he got away with not getting a card goes far beyond unbelievable.
It’s halftime of the match right now and ESPN has said practically nothing about how terrible the tackle was. I should be amazed by that but I’m not. More on this later when I come out with the report card but I just hope Holden doesn’t have a broken shin.
Posted by Creaven on December 4, 2009 under England, USMNT, United States, World Cup |
This is how lucky the United States got Friday.
After the U.S. was drawn in Group C with England, if I could have handpicked a country from Pot 3 and Pot 4 I would have selected Algeria and Slovenia (if you don’t believe me, I worte it yesterday). For the U.S. to actually draw both those teams there was a 1/64 (1.5 percent) chance. It was the exact same odds a poker player has of hitting a runner-runner straight in Texas Holdem in an internet casino. In other words, the U.S. (and England too for that matter) hit the jackpot.
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Tags: Alexi Lalas, Algeria, Bob Levy, Brazil, Efan Ekoku, England, Fabio Capello, Ivory Coast, John Harkes, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Martin Tyler, North Korea, Portugal, Slovenia, teve McManaman, United States, Wayne Rooney, World Cup
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
Posted by Creaven on September 11, 2009 under Premier League, USMNT, United States |
It’s always encouraging when you field a bad team and win on the road. It took some luck — Cornell Glenn hitting the crossbar, Ricardo Clark turning into Steven Gerrard for a split second — but the United States beating Trinidad and Tobago 1-0, is a result the Americans probably had to get.
But let me reiterate, this team Bob Bradley selected was bad. If this exact lineup plays against Hondurus Oct. 10 the U.S. loses by at least two goals (I think U.S. is the underdog against Honduras no matter what the lineup is). That said, the Americans left the Port-of-Spain with three points and that’s what’s important.
To the grades…
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Tags: Argentina, Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Carl Edwards, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clayton Ince, Clint Dempsey, Cornell Glen, EPL Betting Challenge, ESPN, Honduras, John Harkes, Jonathan Bornstien, Jonathan Spector, Jose Mourinho, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, Tim Howard, Trinidad & Tobago, United States
Posted by Creaven on August 12, 2009 under USMNT, United States |
So many of the United States’ players played so poorly, it’s somewhat amazing the U.S. was less than 10 minutes away from leaving Azteca with a draw.
But, predictably, the U.S. ran out of gas (altitude matters) to lose the Concacaf World Cup qualifier, 2-1, against Mexico. A draw would have been a fantastic result and would have kept Mexico’s World Cup chances in serious jeopardy. In the end, though, the loss doesn’t mean a whole lot for the U.S. — they’ll qualify anyway. But getting a point would have been a huge confidence boost.
To the grades…
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Tags: Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Brian Ching, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, CONCACAF, Jay DeMerit, Jonathan Spector, Jozy Altidore, Landon Donovan, Marcello Balboa, Mexico, Michael Bradley, Mun2, Oguchi Onyewu, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, Tim Howard, United States
Posted by Creaven on August 1, 2009 under USMNT, United States |
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 did stay awake for the final and before I get into who I think Bob Bradley is going to take with him to Mexico, let me go on a little rant about El Tri’s 5-0 trouncing…
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Tags: Benny Feilhaber, Bob Bradley, Bobby Convey, Brad Freidel, Brad Guzan, Brian Ching, Carlos Bocanagra, Carlos Vela, Chad Marshall, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Conor Casey, DaMAarcus Beasley, Danny CAliff, Davy Arnaud, Eddie Johnson, Frankie Hejduk, Freddy Adu, Gerrardo Torrado, Giovani Dos Santos, Gold Cup, Guillermo Ochoa, Heath Pearce, Jay DeMerit, Jimmy Conrad, Johnathan Spector, Jonathan Bornstein, José Francisco Torres, Jozy Altidore, Kyle Beckerman, Landon Donovan, Marvell Wynne, Mexico, Michael Bradley, Oguchi Onyewu, Pablo Mastroeni, Ricardo Clark, Robbie Rodgers, Sacha Kljestan, Santino Quaranta, Steve Cherundolo, Stuart Holden, Tim Howard, Troy Perkins, United States, Zach Thornton
Posted by Creaven on July 14, 2009 under USMNT, United States |
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…
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Posted by Creaven on June 30, 2009 under USMNT, United States, World |
Note: First, sorry I’m way late. Second, I’m not doing a report card because I’ve read other people ratings and I feel like it has poisoned by objectiveness.
Re-watching the Confederations Cup final is a painful exercise for U.S. fans.
First, you watch the first half. Dempsey’s flick and the Davies-Donovan give-and-go-and-goal puts a smile on your face. You realize at the end of the first half, U.S. soccer had just completed the greatest 225 minutes in its history. In that span, the U.S. out-scored its opposition 7-0, it beat the No. 1 team in the world and was up 2-0 against the best team in South America; it might be decades before U.S. soccer has a better stretch.
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Tags: Brazil, Carlos Bocanegra, Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey, Confederations Cup, ESPN, Felipe Melo, Kaka, Landon Donovan, Robinho, Tim Howard, United States
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