Bob Bradley's "Mike Seagroves" moment

Discussion in 'USA Men' started by cyberthoth, Jun 21, 2009.

  1. cyberthoth

    cyberthoth Member+

    Nashville SC
    Aug 7, 2000
    Nashville, TN
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Most of you newbies probably don't remember Mike Seagroves, but once upon a time he was one of the best known posters on this site.

    He would frequently incite arguments and was always entertaining but what he did mostly was criticize Brian McBride. It went on, month after month, year after year. Sometimes Mike made good points other times he came off sounding a little obsessive. Truthfully I don't even remember who he wanted to start instead of McBride---was it Razov, Cunningham, Kirvoski---either way it seemed he wanted ANYONE but McBride.

    Then the game against Portugal in WC 2002 came. McBride was an animal and went on to have an incredible tournament and after that game Seagroves showed the spine to do something that needs to happen now. He apologized to McBride.

    You see, McBride wasn't flashy and he wasn't fast but he played with a level of heart that got results even if it wasn't always pretty. Put it simply, the Nats were better with him in the line-up that out.

    The same is true of Bradley. He has this team playing boring soccer that somehow get's results. We're into the second round coming from a group that we really shouldn't be advancing from.

    Sure he got some luck today, he also got some bad luck against Italy. We are not good enough to advance from a group like this without a little luck.

    I wish we could trot out the Adu's and Torres of the world and play like Brazil but the honest truth is we would look fancy and would lose. Bradley's style is what we need to win and at the end of the day I'll take winning with set pieces over losing 4 to 3 with beautiful football.

    Maybe by next summer, Adu will learn to play team ball and maybe at the Gold cup Torres will take that next leap. Maybe it won't happen and the empty bucket will be our formation at the World Cup.

    Either way, the result today has made one thing absolutely clear. Those of you calling for Bradley's head need to apologize. You were wrong. Bradley is a capable coach who just accomplished something pretty incredible with a flawed team.

    Much like Mike Seagroves, you need to eat some crow.
     
  2. CrewDust

    CrewDust Member

    May 6, 1999
    Columbus, Ohio
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Nah, not really a Seagroves monent, too much luck involved.
     
  3. Tonerl

    Tonerl Member+

    Arsenal
    May 10, 2006
    Cincinnati, OH
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not sure if serious...
     
  4. JeremyEritrea

    JeremyEritrea Member+

    Jun 29, 2006
    Takoma Park, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  5. JG

    JG Member+

    Jun 27, 1999
    he got red-carded ages ago
     
  6. Slotback

    Slotback Member

    Jun 19, 2004
    Bradley had a perfect storm today. And as a fan, I'm glad that it happened. But it doesn't hide, mask or deny what has been going on performance wise.

    If the problems are being corrected, then great! If not, then a change still needs to be done. In the meantime Bradley bought himself some time and the heat is turned down a bit.
     
  7. JeremyEritrea

    JeremyEritrea Member+

    Jun 29, 2006
    Takoma Park, MD
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Are you talking about that Sekrah guy?
     
  8. CrewDust

    CrewDust Member

    May 6, 1999
    Columbus, Ohio
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No the Newo guy :p
     
  9. chad

    chad Member+

    Jun 24, 1999
    Manhattan Beach
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Go die in a fire.
     
  10. 75 Cent

    75 Cent Member

    Jun 17, 2003
    Seriously... what happened today... We beat Egypt 3-0. That's it!!! This is the same team who hasn't shown up for i don't know how long. I just don't get it on these boards. We beat one decent team 3-0 and all of a sudden Bradley is doing great? You'd think we just had a great tournament but look at it for what it is... one single victory.
     
  11. maturin

    maturin Member

    Jun 8, 2004
    Bradley should still be fired.

    The players won today despite him, not because of him.
     
  12. KennyWoo

    KennyWoo Member

    May 21, 2007
    Pasadena, California
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Seagroves = poster

    McBride = Bob Bradley, or other criticized performer

    This should have been "Poster X's Seagroves Moment" OR "Bob Bradley's Brian McBride Moment."

    Syntax & analogy fail. Poor form.
     
  13. Bruce S

    Bruce S Member+

    Sep 10, 1999
    saying something over and over does not make it true. We were playing well against Italy until the 2nd half-when we were 11 v.10. We had luck today but we had very bad luck in the first game.
     
  14. The_Dude

    The_Dude Member+

    Aug 21, 2004
    One of the first things Mike "Seagroves" would say is that it was "Segroves".
     
  15. TheLostUniversity

    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Feb 4, 2007
    Greater Boston
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    BS, Cyberthoth, pure unadulterated BS. "Those of you calling for Bradley's head need to apologize. You were wrong. Bradley is a capable coach who just accomplished something pretty incredible with a flawed team. ". Huh, try instead: "Those of you who were praising the genius of Bradley, and proclaiming the long list of shitty results as being the fault of a sorry group of players who, but for BB, would be unfit to clean the toilets of Versailles, should apologize to those players. Today they showed themselves as a capable group, who just accomplished something pretty incredible with a flawed manager".

    As for this Mike Seagroves character, I have no idea what his beef was with McBride. But we have to assume that he had in mind alternatives he thought superior, and that he was doing so on their perceived merits and not on McBride's playing consistently like crap, over a three year period, against any worthwhile opponent.
    Note that [a] McBride had many lovely games in that period, against strong opposition, and His play could be compared directly to the play of others for the USA in that same span of time.
    Now, if Bradley had a lovely set of games against strong opposition to call upon, there would hardly be a cry to look at others [this is why Egypt is so special. It is the first, first in three years, genuine triumph over anybody worthwhile not named Mexico]. And it is fortunate for him that the runs of success others had, e.g Rongen with the younger group, could in no way be used for comparison in the same way Razov's play could versus McBride [and if not for injury Razov may have been a very interesting choice in 2002].
    What we can compare is results against top teams [say top 5 or top 10], for Bora, Sampson, Arena, and Bradley, and in that category Bradley fares far the worst. The team has played poorly too often for too long, and the more it has been bound to Bob's bunkering-long ball mindset the more poorly it has done. Where it has played the best has been in those matches, or half matches, where through loss of a player or through need to catch up from a deficit in a crucial match, the "gameplan" breaks down and the players simply have to go out and do it for themselves.
    Today, when our players struck on attack, knowing they needed to score many goals, they played well, even powerfully. When we bunkered at the end we looked suddenly much poorer [and that is when Egypt nearly scored off the header]. Our players can play, in general, and many who can are out of favor with Bob, and many who can't have had endless chances to f*ck up before he grudgingly, for the moment, confesses they can't play, but through it all we now have sufficiently many good players to overcome the deficit that is Bob.

    Now, let's hope that Bob, despite his past record and his own words can learn from this match and give his players greater autonomy and a chance for a complete, attacking, style. But then we hoped for that after the second half of the Mexico match in the Gold Cup, and that was followed by the managerial crapulence of the Copa America. We hoped for that after the last Mexico victory in the first WC qualifier match, and that was followed by months of third rate nervous crud in which we managed to make teams like Cuba and El Salvador look "world class". In the CC, we were ridden like Roman catamites adrift in Mardi Gras for the first two matches, and finally--out of sheer desperation-- our players struck hard today. Did RoboBob learn from this? I absolutely hope so. Because he is going to be leading us through the group round next year, and I really really really do not want to live through a reincarnation of '98 or '06.
    But color me a nice black gray shade of Mighty Unconvinced that the performance of the USMNT through the first round of the CC is substance for an apology to Bradley for doubting his capability. We finally have one good match, and all the misery of yesteryear is to be forgotten? Spare me the crud. :rolleyes:
     
  16. Soccergodlss

    Soccergodlss Member+

    Jun 21, 2004
    Houston
    Club:
    FC Kaiserslautern
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think nearly everyone on this board hypes individual games far too heavily. The Brazil game was a bad game from us. The Italy and Egypt games were much better. We are still not where I'd like us to be and this win doesn't mean Bradley should be completely let off the hook. Just like Bob shouldn't be fired for the one game against Brazil that some posters were calling for. Currently, he has us qualifying for the WC and our team showed that they still have some faith in the system. Otherwise, they would never have been able to pull this win off after their terrible play against Brazil three days before.
     
  17. entropy

    entropy Member

    Aug 31, 2000
    People's Republic of Alexandria, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Umm...people...

    Mike Segroves = MondayMorning10Shirt
     
  18. TheLostUniversity

    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Feb 4, 2007
    Greater Boston
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Thanks for the info, that makes Cyberthoth's "point" downright ironic. :D
     
  19. monop_poly

    monop_poly Member

    May 17, 2002
    Chicago
    I don't know about the premise here.

    The main correlation I'd see is between Baby Bradley, not Bob.

    - both named Mike
    - both pick up rash yellow cards
     
  20. monop_poly

    monop_poly Member

    May 17, 2002
    Chicago
    you don't say :D
     
  21. Matrim55

    Matrim55 Member+

    Aug 14, 2000
    Berkeley
    Club:
    Connecticut
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Maybe, but ******** that Mike Lastort guy. Glad he's gone.
     
  22. Knave

    Knave Member+

    May 25, 1999
    You're welcome to disagree with those of us who have been calling for Bob's head -- some of us since the day he was hired, some of us after watching the team stagnate under his leadership for years. But to take ONE GAME as some sort of vindication for Bob's leadership is total and utter bullshit.

    Let me just remind you that we beat Brazil back in 1998 under the leadership of one Steve Sampson. Did that win vindicate Sampson's leadership? Does that win mean he was some sort of good, even great coach? Does it mean that all those people who used to call for his head were wrong? No. Obviously not.

    Bradley has presided over the long term decline of the USMNT. The only thing that will vindicate his tenure as coach would be if he now presided over the long term improvement of that team. And you can't measure that over one game.

    In short, your post is without any foundation whatsoever and you are being completely irrational. But I expect nothing less from the crackpots on BigSoccer.
     
  23. entropy

    entropy Member

    Aug 31, 2000
    People's Republic of Alexandria, VA
    Club:
    DC United

    Yeah, complete tosser, that guy. The veritable King of Douchebags.
     
  24. TheLostUniversity

    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Feb 4, 2007
    Greater Boston
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Why do I get the feeling there is a good inside joke here, if only I was "inside" enough to get the joke? :confused::eek::D
     
  25. TrueCrew

    TrueCrew Member+

    Dec 22, 2003
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ha! Wonder how he feels about Bake in Chicago?

    Anyway, on to Bradley. While I've thought for a while we could do better, I was pretty level headed (for BS) until today's lineup was announced, where I went ballistic, and, as it turns out, jumping on the Fire Bradley bandwagon 90 minutes before the wheels came off it.


    What I think this demonstrates is that we should be so manic/depressive. One bad game vs. Brazil doesn't mean Bradley is a moron, and one good game vs. Egypt doesn't mean he's a genius.

    This is a process. Getting out of this group was a great accomplishment. Advancing or not most times comes down to a few plays and some luck, unless you are a superpower (which we aren't).

    In '02 we needed Friedel to save that PK and the Portugal/SKorea game to break just right. We got the no handball call vs. Mexico, but Germany got one against us.

    In '06, we are a disallowed goal vs. Italy and a poor PK call (or a McBride header so close) from advancing. '06 was more disappointing than '98, but the team was in with a chance to advance until the last game. Nothing to hang our heads about.
     

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