He charges Mikey a reasonably middling Motel 6 rate of $100 per day. But poor Mikey now really struggles in the middling, just cannot catch up with those modest payments, and keeps passing the buck back to Garber back in the Defense.
For better or worse, Mikey is going to be around a long time wrt the usmnt and the ussf and mls. Whether it is coaching, being a gm, or even being president of the fed, he is going to be a permanent fixture.
[moved from MLS thread] I don’t think Bradley’s challenge is commitment or knowing where/what he needs to be/do. He just can’t do it at a high level nowadays given the wear and tear endured thru his career.
If he cannot do it anymore, then what exactly is he committing to? At this point his play on the field is in practice indistinguishable from the least committed defensive player out there in MLS. The contrast between the Nagbe I saw against Club America, who was committed in every way, and between what I've seen from Bradley for well over a year, is night and day.
Here is yet another one of those moments in time where it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, regardless of what you think of MB90 the player at this point, to call him in for yet more meaningless friendlies, at the expense of others who desperately need the minutes and opportunity. Whatever the "reasons" that will be assembled after the fact; Adams is injured, Morales is too old and foreign, or too much of an actual #6, Paxton is not a #6, McKinnie can't play there because he can't hit a pretty diagonal, Trapp sucks, this guy is too much this and that guy is too much that, etc. The fact that it is just assumed and expected that he gets called in and will play 90 no matter what, as if it is not only a foregone conclusion, but that it makes any sort of sense because, we need his "leadership", or you can't play new players at this special position or whatever the hell else, is beyond asinine at this point. If he gets called in to these friendlies, let alone plays, it is clearly for non soccer reasons.
Spot on. I said in the other pre-game thread, IF he's called in, it'll be for the caps record, which I was the first one on here to speculate about. That said, and while other sites have predicted he will be on the team, I simply can't imagine he will be, which is why I'm not really "worried".
I think it's pretty clear that we are firmly in "non soccer" reason territory with Bradley. I still think it's for the caps record, but that's going to take what, another year or two? Is he going to be he midfield linchpin during the Hex? Pretty amazing 2 years after Couva, and probably 4-5 years after his decline started, he's still effectively guaranteed a spot in the first 11, despite 99% of people knowing he's not a top 11 player. It's to the point now (and really, i think it's been that way for years), where nobody even talks about it, because what's the point. The Scuffed guys did a pod on top 40 US players or something, put him at like 22 or something, and had about 5 seconds of "yeah, not interested in discussing this, let's move on". The whole situation is the most remarkable story in US Soccer history, in my opinion. One that, despite generating numerous arguments on message boards, does not receive enough attention or scrutiny.
Corruption is a depressing topic, and the more obvious it is the more depressing it is. The conspiracy of silence helps maintain our "pursuit of happiness", for as Eliot wrote: "Humankind cannot bear very much reality".
It's a main reason why soccer nations don't concern themselves with the US. Any manager or federation trying that crap in a soccer nation gets the boot and a red card on their resume for any future employment.
A soccer nation wouldn't have hired a below-average MLS coach with a brief record of failure overseas. A soccer nation wouldn't play musical chairs after Cuova, then spend over a year conducting a search of 2 candidates, with bad excuses like "must speak English" as a reason for eschewing non-English-speaking professional coaches who coach... in an English-speaking country...
This is a contract year for MB. It'll be interesting to see if he continues with the NT after he signs a new deal.
This is low key the funniest part of the entire situation. Guaranteed a spot with the NT for, at least in part, a huge contract. When are MLS contracts up? Besides that Liga MX rumor that his agent likely threw out, where is he going to go? MLS is the only option, but is he OK making 100k after 7 mil the last four years?
Contracts end in December. He is still a starter with the NT, which should help him get one last big deal.
It would be really weird if he's being called up for the caps record. It's tough to imagine any team in any sport going out of its way to help an unpopular player reach a milestone like this. Especially, as you pointed out, since it will take such a long time. That being said, I have no idea why he's still being called in. He's clearly not one of the best center mids in the pool based on the last several years of MLS play and national team play. And he's going to get worse, not better, as each day goes by. If the idea was for him to help transition some of the younger players to the team....well, its been two years. Overall just a bizarre and unfortunate situation for the fans.
Agreed, but would take exception to him being disliked. He's had some kind of hold over USSF for years (while realizing he was one of our best for a number of years). I think fans are tired of him but the powers that be are not. Really just tried to find the only plausible reason, since as you said, it really doesn't make sense at all.
Jozy and Bradley were the first and only early prime-age star US players to leave Big 5 Euro leagues for MLS. That this happened during the time of JK's 'feud' with the league may go some ways towards answering some of the questions posed during this thread.
Wasn’t the “feud” because they came back (and they should have as it was stupid money they were offered) and Klinsmann publicly stated that it would be hard for them to maintain their high level of play while playing in a lesser league? Unfortunately, he was proven right on this point.
Fortunately, the problem of Bradley, Dempsey, and Altidore all coming back to MLS in their prime is unlikely to recur for a few years, since their only successors with the national team to establish themselves in Europe are younger than 22 right now.
Hopefully you’re right. I think MLS is more interested in bringing Mexican National teamers to its league at high prices. That would be great!