http://deadspin.com/americas-most-important-soccer-player-conquers-the-old-1113369327 This is a very well written profile of MB, well worth the time. I did not see this covered elsewhere and it seemed deserving of something here as much as YA. If already covered elsewhere, mods feel free to merge/remove.
I, for one, appreciated the small details in this, particularly the Italian descriptions of Michael's game. And his favorite pasta dish sounds worth a Saturday evening of experimentation in my kitchen (albeit, likely failed).
One reason I love him playing in Italy. They understand and appreciate the subtle quality of his game that would get overlooked in other leagues.
This really annoys me. Bradley>Jones going forward. Jones or someone else (Cameron, etc.) should sit back.
The other side of that coin is: Unpredictability > Predictability Assuming they can make it work, I like them switching it up. The fact that either one of them can show up in goal-creating positions at any time has to be a nightmare to game plan for. I think it's worth continuing to refine the system.
This is a really great point, and as long as JJ and Bradley communicate well (and get used to playing together), this could lead to some really dangerous offensive play from central midfield.
"On BigSoccer.com, you can find over 40 pages of comments in just one thread on the subject. Michael claims the chatter never bothered him. But I wondered if his father felt the same way, and if he'd be willing to speak to me about raising and coaching his son." Started from the bottom, now we here!
Loved this feature on him. The guy is so driven. I go back and forth between who our best player is, between him and Donovan. You can't go wrong with either pick. And the word I'd use to describe him, and something the author touched on, is efficient. He is incredibly efficient. He knows exactly what his team needs, and he gives exactly that much - no more, no less. That filters all the way down to his touches, passes, and tackles. Finally, you can feel the anger from both Bradleys when it comes to the idea of nepotism. Punks like Wynalda...they wish they were as good as Bradley. But the author was definitely not wrong about the controversy surrounding the idea of nepotism. As the Mod around here during some of the Bradley years, that was always the toughest part of the job in the USA forums. .
I got in some huge wars with people on here about the n-word in re Bradley. The one point I would always concede to the Jose Torres/Stuart Holden/Kyle Beckerman brigade (can we all just laugh about some of this now, lads?) is that yes, Mike Bradley's coming from an athletic family and being raised around college and pro soccer was a huge advantage in his development. It opened doors. But there were other doors that were still closed-doors of respect both inside and outside this country. Mike Bradley-and only Mike Bradley-knocked those doors down, stomped on them till they were splinters, and then picked Italian pasta out of his teeth with them.
Very nice article, but the references to the nepotism debate are a little bit cheap. Nepotism means that Michael received more playing time and/or sooner than he would have had Bob not been the coach. That debate arose when he was initially integrated into the team. Of course, it's immaterial now and was more or less after 2007 or so. My point is that Michael could become the next Roy Keane and win 3 Champions League titles -- I certainly hope he does -- but it wouldn't change the truth or falsehood of that counterfactual claim, so it's not really pertinent to the story of his achievements in Italy. Also, Bruce's capping of Michael was a courtesy and it was acknowledged as so by Bruce at the time. He was just brought into the pre-World Cup camp as a warm body because he wasn't playing in MLS and played briefly in a warm up friendly is my recollection.
I don't think you could do a decent story on Bradley without bringing up that there were charges of nepotism when he started getting playing time. They were clearly wrong, as he's one of our best players now, but that doesn't change that it's an important part of the story.
My whole post was really to point out that the bolded is a logical fallacy and one that the writer also indulges.
I don't want to do this but God help me I have to.. Name the player that Mike Bradley took NT minutes from who would have improved the USMNT beyond what they have achieved with MB on the pitch.
I don't understand what you're saying. Are you disagreeing that Bradley is one of the best USMNT players? Are you saying that his playing time was the result of nepotism?
True, but how often have they actually clicked where they seemed a cohesive unit knowing where the other player was? They've played plenty of times together and it still seems like they're not clicking, to my eyes.