Who will be the next US captain? Who are the options? How soon will we need a new captain? And if its soon, do you drop Bradley altogether from the program or just strip him of the captaincy and let him fight for a spot that any other player on the team would have to?
Bradley will probably still be captain until Pulisic, who needs to be at least 21, is old enough to take over.
Lord, I hope who ever is the coach after this cycle doesn't have MB90 penciled into his lineups. We need to see different combinations of midfielders going forward.
Pulisic, cant be anyone else that i see. Hes already taking that responsibility. Its his if he wants it
i dont want it to be pulisic simply because we dont need to act like hes not our best player already or anything, but we dont need to put everything on his back either. and frankly he needs to earn that, which takes more than talent. in general, i prefer a cm or cb (and dont like keepers wearing the armband). im comfortable with cameron and/or besler, but bradleys not losing it for the foreseeable future and i dont see a clear heir yet. brooks (doesnt seem to have the mentality), acosta, roldan, miazga, ccv (no way to know becomes a fixture, much less takes that role- though i liked ccv at youth levels)? i dunno, like i said its not a question i imagine needing an answer for 4 years or so and a lot of the possibilities will age out with bradley, so its a crapshoot.
I think we need a new Captain now but it won't be until after the WC. We are handcuffed to playing MB at this point and by necessity must adjust all our pieces around him to make up for his shortcomings. I also think Bradley could regain some of his pizazz if he were forced to compete for minutes with other CMs.
Pulisic already talks to the referee as much as a captain. But he's not the best for diplomacy. Roldan may have the best combo of even but vocal (enough, like Michael) disposition and leading by example of players in the right age range. All our current regulars are either old or don't ideally fit the bill.
He doesn't have the i.q. of a captain. I could see Jozy doing it for a short period. He's young enough and usually expected to be out there, whether you like it or not. May have to get the temper under control, but he's well-spoken and authoritative.
It is kind of amazing how much this cycle sucked and/or Klinsmann really screwed this up by holding onto players way past their sale date where there was no real opportunity for the team to develop any real chemistry. What I want out of the couch is to totally purge this team of any field player who is over 30 in 2018. I'd rather suffer early in the cycle then wait until qualifying to try and find out who can play and who cannot. The one exception might be to allow Bradley to continue with the team through the Gold Cup 2019, but then start phasing him out of the team and cut him entirely by 2020.
random question- anyone know is roldan speaks spanish? seems like he would, but i dont want to assume. not sure how big a deal that is but it wouldnt hurt in this region.
Yeah, I don't know how well some of the refs speak English, and many of the opponents surely don't who he'd be in position to argue or diffuse conflicts with; so it could be of some use.
The way I see it, we have 3 guys who IMO are likely to be automatic, every match starters immediately after the WC and for the foreseeable future thereafter--Pulisic, Brooks, and Yedlin. Pulisic is our best player but will have just turned 20 by the first official FIFA dates following the WC (usually October/November of that year). Brooks is a few years older, has the right mentality, CB is a good position for the armband, plus as a side benefit his presence as captain would hopefully be a good influence on some of the other German-Americans who are not always as committed to the cause as guys like he and JJ are.
Couldn't agree more. Besler would probably be the only other exception (he's 30 now, I wouldn't want him playing in Qatar at age 35 but I think he could be useful at least through the 2020 Copa if it happens and the WCQ semifinals) but even in his case I'd like to use the year-18 months after the WC to take a look at Miazga, Zimmerman, CCV, EPB, and Glad.
I don't think we should have any hard line rules about age like that. Individually, we should play it by ear. But I like the idea of a general philosophy that we have to be willing to potentially suffer a little early next cycle to undo the damage Jurgen partially did in being narrow-minded about who he called up and playing to win that game so often even in friendlies, which Bruce hasn't made much better because of his conservatism. Next manager needs to cast a wider but more practical net, take a few caps to evaluate each newer guy, and be given the leeway to do that. Also, it would behoove us to experiment with the high press as a way to use our athleticism and desire to take control of games instead of hope to absorb pressure and hit on the counter.
I think Bradley will hold the captaincy through next cycle, and then he retires from the NT. I'm gonna say EPB with McKennie and Pulisic as the back up options.
Does Bradley? Bradley's soccer IQ has gotten worse as he's become the captain. You don't have to be one of these players who's game is mostly about soccer IQ to be a captain. Yedlin's game has really matured, he has a good demeanor and he's pretty much a lock starter. He's also a veteran at this point, played at the last World Cup, he has near 50 caps, he'll be one of the NT's all time caps leaders by the end of his career. I don't think Yedlin will be the next captain, but I would not be surprised if he wears the armband a number of times in the next cycle.
There's an issue with Bradley, and ultimately what this question asks. One, he's in his prime years...right now. But come 2022, he's going to be 34, pushing 35. It would be expected that he will decline in performance between now and then. Bradley has been the focal point of this team since 2010, and has rightfully earned the captain's armband. But the question is how long into the next cycle do we build the focal point of the team around a player who will be past his sale date? Bradley is going to have to transform his role from the focal point to a situational tool. Can this be done if he's still captain? I'd argue not. So, the new coach is going to need to cut this bleeding very early, if not after the Gold Cup, very soon after. It seems that Dempsey has grown accustomed to this role now, but maybe that's the difference between a goalscorer and the team's engine. Either way, it would behoove the new coach to not repeat Jurgen's mistakes in the 2018 cycle.
I don't think Bradley's game will age as well as Donovan's or Dempsey's. We will really be strugling next cycle if he's still a guaranteed starter.