Did you hear him tonight? I didn't. The team didn't. Maybe it's because he said it in German? Or Dutch? Or he was calling de Rossi in Italian to remind him how cool he was?
Pulisic. It's time for major changes, obviously. The team needs to take on his personality. He's driven to improve and a fierce competitor. He has much more personality on the field than Bradley, who is a super-mellow shell of his former self at this point.
The last thing we need to worry about right now is who will be the next captain. Let someone rise to the top and earn it but we have a whole team to rebuild...not just the captaincy.
This isn't a serious debate, it'll be Pulisic unless another American takes the world by storm. That would be a nice problem to have.
The key is can you float high balls on all set pieces, slowly jog while players pass you going both directions, and most importantly always back pass. If so, you've got the nomination apparently.
I wouldn't say that...................................... When a new USMNT coach comes in he's gonna look at that locker room and ask "who are the leaders?" Its slim pickins as far as I'm concerned. People keep talking about Pulisic as if they know he's a "leader" or not. I personally want Christian to be free of that responsibility as a young player & just go out there and play his game. The USMNT this cycle had MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH bigger problems than the identity of the captain. As I pointed out in one of my posts above, the USMNT roster right now is guys over 30 and mostly guys under 24. The number of guys "in their primes" is very limited. Where are the guys on the USMNT that are 25-28? So who is the player that's going to be "in his prime" as an adult professional next cycle that's going to be our leader on the field? Being a good captain is even more important in the tough times than in the good times..............................
Yes. And this is precisely the test Bradley failed over and over. It would be INSANE to let this indifferent jogger continue in a role that he just demonstrated repeatedly that he is unfit for.
These images speak volumes. I want that guy wearing #10 to lead this US lead from now on. I don't care his name, his age, nor where he's from. That's the guy that's gonna cry for us, bleed for us, and get on the line for us, for our flag and pride.
Your captain doesn't have to be your best player, or even a difference maker. But what they have to be is someone who cares, and shows that. Not in the silent, stoic way that Bradley carries himself with on the pitch, or walking for a corner when your down 2 to 1 in a must win game. Jermaine Jones for all his faults would have been a far superior captain. Your captain can't sit there and let your 19 year old playmaker get hacked. You either make a hard tackle yourself or tell your enforcer it's time. Or at the very least get in the refs face. As a coach when I go to elect my captain, I do two things. Blind voting where no one knows who they wrote, and watch practices and the first few exhibitions. Based on that it's easy to see who the captain should be. If it's someone who was on the field last night it absolutely has to be Pulisic. One of the few who played like they cared. You've got a new group coming in. Canouse, McKinnie, Miazga, CCV, Lennon, Hyndman, Wright, Sargent etc that will be integrating in. But to me, Pulisic is the captain.
NO named Captain for the next Nat games. Let the players decide organically. The right man for the job will out.
I thought Williams today showed what we need from our captain with his heart, his work rate, his passion. He played today like he couldn't wait to put on the NT shirt. He showed leadership thru effort and this effort is just how he plays, every week. Night and day from Bradley. I had considered Brooks and Yedlin as the next captain but I'm on board with Williams. And with this anti-foreigner and 2nd class citizen crapola which appears to have torn the locker room apart, I think it would be a great way to start off the cycle with a clean slate by giving a German American the arm band. You'll never have to worry about Williams giving it his all. I think he could fill a similar role next cycle to Jones in the '14 cycle. He doesn't have the same level of pure talent but has the same heart/work rate and is more tactically disciplined.
I'll need more evidence before supporting a new full time captain. Not hard too hard for our guys to look intense in a game like this. Portugal looked a bit casual out there, as is often the case against Euro opponents in friendlies.
I think it wll be a hard decision between Pulisic, Mckennie and Adams. Pulisic is the best player and leads by example. The latter 2 are just natural born leaders with tremendous work rate.
Since Pulisic and McKennie look to be around for a dozen years, at the moment, I'd think having to carry the armband for that long can be a heavy load, look at what happened to MB! Perhaps, CP and WM can be co-captains and share the load, alternating who wears the armband. They both bring maturity beyond their years, and intelligence and work rate. Both play like coach's sons.
Knowing the USSF, it'll find a way to screw that up. Gulati and co have screwed up everything else they've touched this cycle.
I think the best case for not giving the armband to Pulisic/McKennie is.................Landon Donovan. Landon was by some distance our best player at the time (this was pre-Dempsey breakout), but as a young player the added pressure of being "captain" weighed him down unneccesarily. Bradley unburdened him of it.................... The truth is that the we don't really know who the leaders are of this team off the field. Its hard for us to say who the captains should be, cuz its not necessarily the best player. I've thought the best captain we've had in the past 25 years was Carlos Bocanegra. It could be that while he doesn't have the high-end potential as McKennie, Acosta may actually be the leader of this group of young players. Or it could be Yedlin or Brooks or Miazga or whomever. We honestly don't have a good feeling for the actual makeup of this USMNT moving forward. We don't even know who the coach is going to be, and what his style/philosophy will be.