As the story was told to me, it was because Kreis snubbed Arena and went to Duke in the first place. Honestly, do you think he's had much of a shot? Since Il Bruce got the job, here are Jason Kreis' "golden" opportunities: 9/8/99 at Jamaica: Started, played 45 minutes, scored a goal 11/17/99 at Morocco: Entered at the 59th minute for a USA "B" side 3/12/00 vs. Tunisia: Played 90 minutes with a USA "B" side. 4/26/00 at Russia: Entered at the 74th minute. 6/3/00 vs. South Africa: Entered at the 84th minute 6/6/00 vs. Ireland: Started, played 65 minutes with a USA "B" side in a driving rain 7/23/00 at Costa Rica: Entered at the 87th and got booked. Incidentally, this is the one and only match of any significance in which Kreis has played under Il Bruce. Jovan Kirovski has pissed away more opportunities than Kreis has even been given. I guess it pays to sit on some of Europe's finest benches than to be a consistent performer in MLS, no matter what Il Bruce says. You would think so. But success in MLS hasn't translated into too many good opportunities for Kreis yet.
You know, "bad luck." And such wonderful looks they were. I'm sure that those six minutes against South Africa in 2000 told him literally volumes about Kreis' ability. Or maybe the three minutes in Costa Rica. Yessirree, Bruce has really given Kreis a really good look in those 256 minutes in seven matches. Trust us: That much has become clear by this point. All that clap-trap that Brucie gave us about starting and performing for your club? Frankly, it sounds good, but ain't exactly the truth. Frankly, if he has the same "bad luck" as Kreis, I don't think we'll be able to say definitively whether he's as good as the other options. Indeed. I was waiting for this canard. You know, "reading comprehension" is a wonderful thing. I think that if you had more emphasis on this "reading comprehension" business, you would've noted that not one Burn fan had made that argument yet. But that's neither here nor there. Do I think that Brucie "made a huge mistake and if we had just used Kreis instead of those stiffs McBride and Donovan, the US would have won the World Cup?" The answer to that question is "I don't know," because I don't think that Brucie ever gave Kreis an adequate opportunity to show whether or not he belonged with the USMNT.
I understand the words. My question is what bad luck did Kreis have? The bad luck to do something stupid in his 3 minutes in Costa Rica? Or the bad luck to have a coach as astute as Bruce Arena who could see that Kreis, with as many wonderful skills that he has, has a fundamental flaw in his game that makes him ineffective at the higher level. Well those are not the only appearances Kreis made under Arena as you point out. Plus his multiple appearances under Sampson. And more importantly, Kreis got into a lot of camps. That was Kreis' chance to impress and get more game time, and obviously, not surprisingly to those with discerning eyes, he didn't impress. Sorry, if you want to play for the Nats you do something with those 256 minutes. All MLS got him was a foot in camp. The rest was up to Kreis. You spoke about reading comprehension below. BA never promised to field the MLS all-star game. All BA said is that MLS will get you in the door. In other words MLS gets you into camp, camp gets you into games and good performances get you more time. Well "we" might not know "definitively", but I doubt Bruce Arena will have any problem determining if Suarez has a fundamental flaw in his game like Kreis (his lack of any type of athletic ability -- speed, strength, height makes it impossible for him to get time on the ball at the international level). He is smarter than us when it comes to talent evaluation and he has the benefit of watching Kreis in camp, which we don't. Surely you understand the concept of the rhetorical question. ... In other words, my question should not be read to imply that anyone said such a thing. On the other hand, see below. The fact that you answer "I don't know" means -- and this is reading comprehension in action -- that it is possible that you think Kreis is better than those guys. OK, this is just an opinion, but I think you are nuts.
Is Kreis better than Ante Razov? No way. Ante scored the first goal in qualifying, and second game Stewart scored from a rebound off his shoot. Then he showed good as sub in Jamaica game then when he started the next game, he scored against T&T. Put a word, Ante performed when he got any limited chances, but he still DOES NOT make the US team. Case rest.
There was a thread about this elusive quote that got lost in the crash. I'm 99% sure that the quote was the inverse...that a player wouldn't be considered for the Nats unless he was a standout on his MLS team. Mediocre MLSers need not apply. (I'm not saying Kreis fits that category.) Or is that the obverse? I know it's not the reverse.
Razov was an alternate along with Kirovski because BA picked JMM over them in one of his "difficult" decisions. That had nothing to do with Kreis. Why he picked JMM may have had to do with clutch performances in WCQ, WC experience, and the ability to be a ball winner when we are protecting a lead. As a club player, I would take Kreis over Razov easily.
Suarez may be good enough for the nats, but the Burn also has this winger Martinez that is a lot like DMB. He is coming into his own and he is only 25.
He's also not a US citizen. Martinez has a Green Card and he's lived in the US for about 10 years, so he should be close to citizenship, if he wants it, but right now, the only country he's eligible to play for is Mexico. As for on the field, Martinez is great going forward but his defense isn't nearly as good as Beasley's. Not saying he couldn't play at the national team level - I think he's worth a look - but he's not a lock like Suarez is. But, until he becomes a citizen the deabte is moot unless you want to debate whether he's good enough for El Tri.
Opinion: Jefe is CORRECT, sir. Your case here seems to be depending heavily on the simple notion that "Bruce knows better." That Kreis's quality did not command more time. Two names off the top of my head destroy this contention. One Jefe mentioned: Jovan Friggin' Kirovski. Here's another: David Friggin' Regis. At what point did the astute, discerning eye decide that David Regis was ineffective? Bruce did great, but his judgment is far from infallible. Nor is he some paragon of fairness. Kreis hasn't had a fair crack. He did not get what he deserved, though it's maybe a moot point now. For Suarez, this is a timely discussion.
Unless I have the wrong Martinez, or unless MLSnet.com is wrong, he is a citizen because he was born in the US. http://www.mlsnet.com/bios/antonio_martinez.html
I believe that Chivas Martinez has dual citizenship because he was born in the USA to Mexican parents. And he's gone on record as saying that he'd like to play for El Tri one day. But unless he improves his defensive play, I don't think that he'll be playing for any national team.
According to the Burn website: *Martinez was born in Yahualica, Mexico. *He played 4 years of HS ball in Carson, CA and graduated in 1996 before playing 4 years of college soccer and joining the league right out of CS Fullerton in 2000. Thus, we can deduce that he has lived in this country since at least 1992. *He is still a Mexican citizen and only a Mexican citiezen. *He has a Green Card and does not count as an international. Considering he's lived in the US at least 10 years, he's got to be pretty close to being eligible for American citizenship, if he wants it. *In 53 career regular season MLS games, with 28 starts, he has scored 4 goals and 21 assists. BUT, after being a spot-starter as a rookie, and a part-time starter last year, he has become the Burn's first choice left mid this year - implying steady improvement, which I always like in young players - and has a career best 13 points this year with a fourth of the season left to play. *His 9 assists this season is currently 5th in the league. *He has also scored 2 goals in Open Cup play. *His nickname is Chivas, in honor of his favorite club growing up. Can the US National Team really have a midfielder who'se nickname is the most popular club in Mexico? *He thinks Suarez should play for the US because he has a better chance of being in a World Cup and starting. (OK, I made that part up, but I just wanted to get us back on topic. Plus, it happens to be an accuate statement, even if Chivas didn't say it.
there is a story about Suarez in the new socceramerica. He talks about how nervous he was at the all-star game cause the Bruce was watching. Sure sounded like he wanted to play for the USA badly.
Kreis- He was in quite a few camps and unless you guys were in the camp to evaluate him against the other strikers, then you don't really have much to abse your opinion on. I was not in camp so I can guess that Bruce picked the forwards that played the best. Suarez - Would like to see him get a chance with the Nats this year. Chivas - good skills and if he wants to become a citizen then he might get a shot.
Right now Suarez is just trying to get healthy for the playoffs. Once again he is injured. Arena was very interested in getting him into the MNT camps over the past 15 months but he had a quad injury during the summer of '01 that cost him time with Dallas and the National Team. Then about the time that had healed (late October) a dumbell fell off a rack in the gym where he was working out. It dropped on this toe and he took some stitches for that. Finally a hernia surgery kept him from making the early friendly with Korea. And that was the end of the chance to WC though it wasn't for lack of interest on Bruce Arena's part. All of this talk about Uruguay and Guatemala is a generous amount of posturing to keep his name in the news to get the best deal possible. Ryan will play with the US team as soon as he is healthy. Mark my words...
Suarez is unlikely to be using the USA as a bargaining chip to get Uruguay to cap him... but what if Uruguay is a bargaining chip to get Bruce to cap him? Either way, it's not a Michael Ricketts situation - at least he's actually eligible to play for both countries!
The perceived "threat" of going to Uruguay is all part of the bargaining process. Suarez would have been capped in the friendly with Korea last January if he had been healthy. He was scheduled to go with the team but for the hernia. Uruguay is just his way of reminding Arena of that promise to join the Nats.
I used to say the same thing about Marcus DaBeasley. I don't think his lack of defense will keep him off either national team, but it might keep him from sticking.
yes, they can! they have 2 friendlies in november to cap and try young players before they get snatched by european clubs (normal thing in Uruguay at age 20 or 21) one game vs. Venezuela and the other one could be vs. Mexico, both with the blessing of FIFA the question is when will the USA nats play next?
Re: Re: Suarez to Uruguay (kinda) Friendlies don't cap tie a player if I recall correctly. Only FIFA tournaments cap tie a player.
I agree. The same link provides this gem: "A" Match definition (Page 34, Regulations Governing The Application of the Statutes, Section II Definition, announcement and registration of matches, Article 6) "Every international "A" match including friendly matches and those played in tournaments or in games comprising football shall be made known to..." then it goes on to tell how the "A" match reports is filed, which includes the players used in said match. They do go out of their way to define both international matches and international "A" matches. The first being any match between two FIFA member nations. The "A" match only is different by saying, "both associations field their first national representative team." Then is goes on to say that a nation could use a club team from that nation as their national team and thay would count as an official side and the match an offcial "international match", but does not add the "A". So, untill I can get past the lawyer talk, I can't make up my mind how this works. For the record, I was set on any actual game action tied the player. You could be on the roster, in camp, whatever, but even one second on the pitch counts to tie the player. Now, who can get past this interpretation?