Via Poster Danny Woodhead: Jimmy Conrad is a co-host on the new Barstool Sports soccer podcast, and he had some thoughts on Michael Bradley. They are very bland, and I'm sure they won't evoke any strong feelings one way or the other, but I thought I'd transcribe them as best as I could anyway: "I don't think we should be playing any of our older players from here on out...Michael Bradley, for me, should absolutely not be involved with the team from here on out. He's done his service, thank you very much, you've had a great career for the national team, you've had over 100 caps, but the guy is, and I'm being completely frank here with everybody, he's a super alpha male know-it-all and we don't need that vibe in the team anymore. Plus, we need the younger players to solve these problems on their own so that new leaders can emerge from this younger group. As opposed to them always deferring to the other guys." "If he came into the team, then everybody would be like 'Michael was the leader'....when you have those types of [alpha male] personalities, they're filling the void and then some...so none of the other guys can step up or feel appropriate or feel comfortable in stepping up and saying something." "I remember I had a former defender who played in the 2014 World Cup with the US, came up to me and was like 'I don't know how to talk to Michael Bradley during a game, can you help me figure out things I can say to him that's going to get his attention'...that's a problem, because if you have your leaders that aren't listening to their teammates...that's a big problem and I'm sure we can dissect what that means in the bigger picture why we didn't qualify if our captain isn't being someone that is open to his teammates and being able to listen."
I'd start with "Don't f**king give the goddamn ball away in the 95th minute of a WC game where we're 2-1 up against a team with a multi-year Ballon D'Or winner."
big ups to Conrad to saying what many wanted to say. its been 7 years since anyone (Canales and Wynalda) dare speak this narrative.
This is Conrad grinding a longstanding axe, going back to when he was cut by Bob Bradley. That said, there is some distant truth to what Conrad says. I would not say that Bradley was a know-it-all, but he was the untouchable person in the locker room, and he is a dominant character. If you wanted to be on the team, you had better have been in good standing with him. Players that were not, were ultimately marginalized. And Michael was not particularly flexible about it. Michael was a good, flawed soldier for many years and deserves more credit than Conrad gives him here. But I do not think he should be involved in the US team going forward. The team needs to establish its own identity away from his shadow.
Where is Wynalda these days? Most Professional teams in the US won't give him the time of day. Fox quietly took him off TV, and let his contract expire. SiriusXM quietly canceled his show. He's essentially persona non grata in the US Soccer circles these days.
Are you surprised the biggest resistance to the status Quo has been marginalized? Don Garber has been commissioner for 20 years and the USMNT Head coach and assistant are failures from last cycle who are still leading the charge.
the dynamic you describe is toxic and makes me feel even more justified than i already was in my disdain for bradley... clearly players like feilhaber were not in good stead with MB - which explains his marginilization - and to think people thought the players who he didnt like werent "good enough"....looking back he probably felt threatened by a guy like benny who could and should have rendered him obsolete and redundant. (benny is a better 6 in MLS RIGHT NOW for those that doubt) get this loser FAAAAR away from the young players on the team!!!!!
yes b/c he dared question the good ol boys network.... oh, the horror of his transgressions << sarcasm>>>
I might feel sorry for Eric if he hadn’t been such a douchebag as a player. His ego was every bit as big as Bradley.
Bit of a mixed bag to this for me. I don't want Bradley called up anymore and his big personality is a big part of the reason. You need a new team to have new leaders. If you have some holdovers with too much influence on the newer players I think it makes things harder and is time wasted, especially when the team has failed miserably and needs to go in new directions. But, I think we are being silly if we don't want players on the team with big personalities. You think top teams don't have locker rooms full of guys with big personalities, over-confident know-it-alls with brash attitudes and all the rest? As much as I think we should be through with Bradley, I'd say maybe part of the problem was a lack of players bold enough to challenge him, not that he was a domineering personality himself. The failed 2016 team lacked nothing more than strong personalities for my tastes. I'll take a player with a big ego over one who politely defers any day of the week.
big personality is one thing...but reading between the lines...I feel like MB had a say in who was actually on the team and who wasn't...which means: defer and submit to his reign or watch from home with benny, donovan, nguyen etc...which would be ludicrous but would also explain everything to me i.e. the performance of the team and who was called in and who wasn't. MB was NEVER good enough to justify that type of status and power within the USMNT. heck, messi wasnt good enough to justify that type of power with argentina, either....that type of toxicity might be present on "big teams" but I doubt that is the case on championship teams. pro soccer players in the US are the most meek of any sport, imo. why??? b/c soccer is the only sport where speaking up gets you ostracized. sure it happens in NBA, NFL to some extent....say the wrong thing in any sport and there are now dire consequences for atheletes...but I feel it is worse in soccer than any other. USMNT/MLS is dying for personalities and charisma, imo....but players are too powerless to speak up...too easily cast aside. when you get a zlatan...who already has his status, fame, fortune...he can say what he wants....even a jermaine jones...he can say what he wants too....after MLS did him dirty...he went hard at them (deservedly so, imo). but us soccer is very very petty when it comes to people who speak up and buck the inner boys network....people and players know that and toe the line...which is horrible for the sport, imo. last time i checked political correctness hasnt generated any whirlwinds of popularity. i think if there were more brash personalities and people who had something to say....it would make the sport much more popular than it is but the current status quo severely limits that.
McKennie and Weah both have big personalities. Big smiles, big energy. That is what is missing and sorely needed IMO.
Who had the bigger ego: Bradely or Klinsmann? I'd say Klinsmann's ego had more to do with him leaving certain players at home way more then anything Bradley said to him. Really? Who else on the USMNT team at that time had had the successes that Bradley had? The guy was a starter in the Bundelsliga, the Eredivisie, & Serie A during his career. Not to mention he has always had to deal with people saying that the only reason he was on the USMNT was due to his dad being the coach. This I agree with completely. These types of players tend to be the best in the world though, and MLS is not the best league in the World. MLS needs more Zlatans. He has done more to raise MLS in the non-soccer fan viewing profile in six months, than the league has since Beckham retired. When/if Ronaldo come to MLS, he'll have even more of an impact off of the field. We also need to remember that players like Zlatan, Lebron, Ronaldo, Shaq & Tiger are the exception. For every one of them, there are 100's if not 1,000's of players who don't have the personality/charisma, nor the desire to be in the spotlight. One other thing to keep in mind. ALL national team players have HUGE egos. You don't get to that level without having supreme confidence in one's ability. Look at the makeup of the past USMNT's. Are we seriously arguing over whether Bradley prevented the Feilhaber's, Nguyen's, Conrad's, of the world? Seriously??? Those guys were MLS lifer's/Danish Super Liga players. Are we really all that upset that they didn't make the National Team consistently? The fact is that the US just doesn't have that many high quality international class players. It's why the US team has always had a number of dual nationals on the team. If we're going to bitch about player snubs, why doesn't anyone ever bring up Chad Marshall? The guy has been the best defender in MLS for his entire career, and barely got a sniff with the national team. Why?
I think you are off with Benny. Who's Benny's current coach? https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/01/11/benny-feilhaber-shock-lafc-trade-quickly-turned-excitement
Pfft, Michael already exposed himself throughout WCQ. Conrad waited until it was "safe" to say this stuff. Also Conrad must not want any SUM-controlled jobs, like, ever.
This is the problem that US Soccer has in general. Trying to say anything contrary to the party line gets you blacklisted. That's not right at all. Much of the US Soccer community is tired of nothing getting done and wants USSF to start reforming itself. It's not like what we're asking for is so strange.
The way its set-up is for certain high- people to get a lot of $$$$$$. They will do everything they can to keep the status Quo. Don Garber himself within 5 years will be raking in a lot of $$$$ of 200 Million+ expansion fees and will start making more money per year than the NFL/MLB/NBA commissioners, maybe more than 2 of them combined.
i do think it is borderline hilarious that robobob is using nguyen and benny as his cm's and having a lot of success doing so (despite both getting a little older than prime age)....(and also what i personally wanted for a long time for usmnt).... this despite the climate that allowed his son to benefit and these players suffer....i've been wondering this MLS season about just how much overlap there is in robobob and MB's thinking and activity in ussoccer...perhaps they arent 100% on the same page??? its tragic really -- for all the players that were passed over and ostracized by this cartel-like mindset that permeates the sport in the usa. maybe i am off - maybe it was just a JK-thing - there was clearly some bias against certain players that was hard to explain and left me scratching my head at their exclusion - it could be multiple reasons - \ thats the thing about this kind of revelation - unless you weer on the inside you dont really know - it's impossible as a fan to even know who should and shouldnt be on the team when everything is cloaked in privacy and anyone who is actually honest in the media is blackballed...it's insane, really. i know benny had the game-winning assist in his last usmnt game so idk....i guess there was no bias against him....there's definitely incompetence at play as well....
I'm curious whether this is something you "know" to be fact, or whether your are inferring from an amalgamation of soft information. Either is welcome in BS. Just asking for clarification. Thanks.
I know that multiple players who have played with Michael Bradley on the USNT have given me that description of his team impact. And I should clarify, most players who have played with Michael respect him. And in many respects, so do I. But I think the US should be looking to cleanse itself of the personality and culture that led to the failure of the last cycle. Which means you do not call Michael Bradley back into the team. If you do, he is immediately the elder statesman of the team, and he becomes central to the new team's personality. No thanks.