that's what let us down big time. Even if he was the best CM we ever had, itd be ridiculous for him to get 90mins on every occasion.
I wonder if John O’brien - who was a much better midfielder at his peak - would have been given a chance to show it if Reyna had not been injured before the 2002 World Cup. We will never know. But good thing for the US that injury forced Arena’s hand. Would Danny Williams or Jonathan Gonzalez have been an upgrade to Michael Bradley against T&T. We will never know for sure, but I suspect they would.
Be pissed all you want, Lions don't care about Sheep! And that is serious, as based on their play, neither cares much about missing the WC. But hands off MB, he was a fantastic player and captain all cycle.
Ha! The American public has completely forgotten about it in less than two weeks. Looks like Sunil rightly waited for the noise to die down before he went right back to business as usual. Typical.
His legacy seems to have been shattered with his performance in the last match. He'll always have the match vs Slovenia for his WC memories.
that portugal blunder in brazil shoulda been the nail in the coffin, imo....he was hot garbage in brazil. that was MB's rico clark/reyna moment...only, inexplicably, he kept playing for excruciating years more after he flailed miserably....whereas any other player that did that woulda been on permanent exile subsequently.
He never really had much of a positive legacy to begin with, except for his time in Italy. Even when he was in Germany he was frequently called out for not deserving his NT spot. Although I do agree the hex failure will keep him in the conversation for years to come. I can see Bradley being blamed for Pulisic moving to MLS in 8-10 years.
C'mon, Road. MB hasn't been an elite player since his return to MLS and I'm bitterly disappointed with his on-field leadership this cycle but to say that MB doesn't have a legacy is just wrong. He was a warrior for us for years and fought through all the nepotism BS while running himself to the bone while wearing the crest. That makes his recent performances all the more galling but to say that he doesn't have a legacy and hasn't historically been a top USMNT performer is beyond the pale IMO.
I think you misread what I was saying. I didn't say I always agreed with the negative appraisals he's gotten through most of his career, only pointing out the existence of such a "legacy." Chievo up to his first season at Roma seems like the only stretch where Bradley was almost universally praised among U.S. fandom.
Apologies if I misquoted you. IMO, there was a sizeable portion of the fanbase who just refused to give MB credit for being a very good player for the USMNT when his father was coach.
Exactly. If you read this thread, you would probably assume Bradley plays at Roma right now. Ermmm, he hasn't been there or played there (or played well) in five years! For some reason people continued to bring up MB's past in defending his present abilities. Unfortunately, that was never relevant. You want to talk about his legacy now? Sure, that works (though the only thing people will remember 10 years from now is him captaining the greatest failure in US soccer history). Go for it. He was a good player at some point, years ago. He isn't good now, nor has he been good since what, 2014? When's the last time anyone brought up Jones' career in Germany? He basically left the same time as MB, yet for some reason only MB's defense starts and ends with the fact he played pretty well in Europe 4 years ago.
The USA had to play with two forwards in order for Jozy to be comfortable. The USA had to play Bradley as a lone 6, because it never worked with anyone else. So, you see, we had to go 4-1-3-2 on the road against a team who's only hope of scoring is to be given space for long balls. You couldn't have done anything else because it doesn't work with Bradley and Bradley had to start. Why that was the thinking we can debate forever.
Bradley played 900 minutes in the hex...he had zero assists. Zero assists. Now, if there are any fan boys left they would say he plays #6, too deep for assists. However, he took how many restarts? Almost all of them! Not one assist. I can't think of one set piece goal. 900 minutes, how many corners and free kicks, how many hopeful diagonals to runners, how many...zero assists.
Results usually went with how Bradley played. We relied to much on him No one really pushed him out tho
Geoff was way better and the last season or so he has played as a 6 for Stoke. He mostly puts in a good shift at that spot. Nobody pushed him out, but nobody was really given much of a shot.