I don't know where that information comes from but Roma fans are well known for hyperbole. I think on that same day he was employed as a regista and dominated the midfield. Then a couple days later he struggled to complete simple passes. I know he will improve but I have a hard time believing those reports as well considering what we saw just a couple days later. He'll get sharper but I think he's rusty right now. I'm going off what I've seen, Marquinho in my opinion is quicker and has the same motor. There's a reason he can play so many positions. If Bradley posted a better 100 time it must have been a fluke or the surfaces were different. I don't think I'm underestimating Bradley's athletic ability rather. If anything I'm overrating other players on the squad, but still I've seen them play an awful lot and it's jmo. In stoppage time.
I vaguely recall that the player tracking stats for either the World Cup or Confederations Cup showed Bradley with one of the best top speeds on the U.S. team. Although he doesn't play a speed game, I have no problem believing that he's fast when he has distance to reach top speed. It's something that you would mainly see on counterattacks, either joining one on offense or defending one on defense.
Mike is fast on the top end if he gets a head of steam. He's not particularly quick (straight line or laterally) relative to his level. Of course having a good top-end speed mainly helps in recovering from getting turned, or quickly getting up in support to crash the box in the attack (which is one of his stronger points).
He had to check is run because of Bojan but to me that's an impressive burst of speed after being on the pitch for 90min. I'm not saying Bradley has snails pace, or that Marquinho has world class speed, but he's not as fast as Marquinho. Marquinho is an attacking midfielder and he plays FB. He's quick and he has a good motor. I'd like to know when these times were taken. Were they at the beginning of camp or after all the most grueling parts of training camp? Everyone looked like they had heavy legs yesterday but they still looked quicker then Bradley who just got there.
When it comes to players with better speed over longer distances, I tend to remember this goal. I'm sure Messi is quicker in short bursts, but here he clearly struggles to keep up with Kaká's long stride:
Marquinho does play fullback too, similar to Isla in fact when he plays out there. I don't think he's a fast twitch player like Messi. He has bags of energy and can sustain that pace throughout the course of the match.
That was only speed in the beginning. Kaka had a hell of a burst on him too, and after that he knew how to get Messi on his back, exactly what Messi is always doing to others.
Saying someone dominated the midfield is subjective. Saying Bradley had the fastest 100m & 300m time is objective, he either did or he didn't, I fail to see any reason why someone would say such a thing if it wasn't true. Quickness/burst in a game and 100m track speed are two completely different things. Youtube highlights are irrelevant. I digress.
I haven't seen any of the times. The only times I've seen have been the 1000 meters times, which Lamela dominated. In fact I don't know where these stories are coming from, the tweet seems to be referring to the papers. I saw this on a blog the other day, my point was the blogs tend to embellish, especially with new players. He just arrives and apparently he's superior to everyone physically and dominates the midfield during ball work. It's happened in this thread, Bradley shows up and apparently he works harder than a squad of players people had little prior knowledge of until he signed. There are several players on the squad who are very hard working, like Lamela or Taddei. The blogs said the same thing about Dodo after his first and only training session, who I actually would believe more than Bradley, though I'm not sure with either. I've seen the players people are claiming Bradley is faster than and I'm not buying it. The Youtube clips are for the benefit of the board, so people can have a basic idea of the players he's quicker than. I'm well aware of game quickness and track speed. Or how times can vary based on track conditions, surface, equipment, timing methods etc.I grew up around track athletes in Southern California and I was an above average one. If Bradley beat out everyone on our squad something must be up, like the players who've been there all training camp are destroyed after a Zeman training camp. I just can't believe that one player couldn't post a better time than Bradley if all things are equal. We would have a really slow team if that was the case. 1000 meter times:
Side Note: Jose Angel is a disgrace. That's a shocking time for one of the youngest players on the squad and a fullback.
It's kind of a silly metric, anyway. 100 meter sprints are freakishly rare on a soccer field, let alone a 300. Even a 40 only happens a few times a game. The average sprint, as per my uncle the college coach, is under 10 yards. Sure there are plenty in the 10-20 yard range, but you almost never see a player run flat out for any distance. There is dribbling, changes of direction and most importantly changes of pace, which take a player out of that straight line run. A quick player can create separation for himself in little or no space, a fast one needs a more open field. Likewise, a quick defender can better keep up with those bursts of speed. But a smart player who positions himself, moves his feet and reads the play can keep up just as well. My money is on Bradley falling into the latter category, tenacious, intelligent and hardworking. Yeah. I used to do 1000 m in 4:00 in interval training, and I am by no means a good middle distance runner. Maybe he spent a little too much time on his butt this offseason?
OK I worked it out. As you can see above during the runs players are separated into groups. With sprints there are groups of 4. Bradley was in the fastest group along with Lamela, Taddei and Rosi, I can't find anything that says he was in the fastest overall. I don't have any info on his 100 time but his group reportedly put up times in the 300 meters between 36-37 seconds.
experience has nothing to do with speed. He was unable to close ground on Kaka who was running with the ball. Maybe he's gotten marginally faster now but I doubt a significant amount.
I think that there was a reason that Pierre chose those two players for this video; you wouldn't put Carlos Bocanegra or Gooch up against Charlie Davies. I'm not saying that Mickey is superfast, but it wouldn't shock me that he came out on top against a bunch of other soccer players in a semi-competitive test.
IMO people are misreading what happened there. Kaka made many decisions and many changes of direction in that run. That was A cat and mouse game, not a foot race. More about smarts and skill than speed. Yeah, he was fast, but we've had many players just as fast and faster. Not as skilled and smart though.
I believe if you have a long distance to run, several US players have good times. Didn't Gooch have a suprising time in one of the camps? I agree that Bradley is in the latter group. It has been pointed out in other threads that Bradley has fits closing down quick players and positions himself not to get beat.
Bradley should give a .5 sec handicap just for the aerodynamics. I used to shave like that to swim nationals. It's too bad they cancelled Alien Nation or Mikey would have a clear exit plan.