In last Saturday's game, Bedoya played his first game for the USMNT and showed that he is the REAL DEAL! At a time when other midfielders were erratic and lacking quality, Bedoya showed that he is up to the task. For a player making his debut, I don't think it could have gone any better. Well, perhaps if he had been able to get a flicked header on Davis' cross at the end of the game it would have been the icing on the cake. Just in 30 minutes on the field, Bedoya showed A LOT! Alejandro's first touch is golden, his passes are crisp and accurate, he's got good movement and made good runs, showed good positioning, closed down and defended well, he battled, and above all, showed good awareness, made good decisions, and showed a great level of composure AND WAS VERY INVOLVED IN THE GAME in his first cap! All these qualities will serve the USMNT in THIS World Cup -- not 4 years from now like the commentators were saying. We need quality midfielders that can hold the ball under pressure and make good decisions. An example of his quality was at the 86:00 minute mark -- McCarty made a pass to him and even with two Honduras player converging on him within 5 yards, he made a quick little touch to control the ball, and then made a very good pass to Casey (instead of the negative passes that we normally see!) With one touch and a quick pass, he difused that pressure and opened up space for his teammate. That is what we need more of for THIS World Cup. When players were asked who showed well in camp, the answer that came up frequently was "Bedoya". If you haven't erased the Honduras game, go back and watch him for the last 30 minutes, and you will be watching a highly technical, quality player. At this point, Bradley needs to feature him for the next couple of games to see how he builds on his debut performance. He shoudl START, not be subbed in. Because Bedoya IS the real deal -- for THIS World Cup!
hmmmm.....i dunno about all that. I dont mean to taunt or anything, but we just havent seen enough. He looks like he can at least hold his own. He certainly gives Robbie Rogers a run for his money i will concede that. We are thinner at outside midfield than many would care to admit Donovan, Dempsey, Holden, new DMB). Do i wanna see more? hells yes. Give him the start vs El Salvador, lets see what hes about. lets also extend that gratification to Pontius, Gonzalez, Alston, Finley, Cunningham as well.
Bedoya had the same kind of debut that Torres had: not too much, just enough to show that he does has some talent and plenty of poise. He'll be ready . . . next cycle. He just doesn't have enough time.
His match rating would be higher than a '5' if he was as golden as you say he was. Coming in at 60 minutes to play 30 minutes down 3-0 is basically an 'incomplete.' He has earned more of a look, but real deal? I am withholding comment on that.
In his case, I wouldn't say a 5 and an 'incomplete' are really all that different. As you say, given the situation, he really didn't have much of a chance to have an impact on the game. 30 min is certainly not enough to say he's a failure or great. Given that it was his first camp and his first cap, I'd call his time a success b/c he was poised and didn't look out of place. I'd say he merits a longer look next non-calendar friendly that he's available or maybe a call-up to the big boys match in March since he is in Europe (prolly wouldn't make the field for that one though). I doubt he'll be made available for the Feb friendly since he should be training with his club by then.....I think.
There really isn't going to be any big training ahead of the Netherlands match. Players won't be released until Sunday. They will be in Amsterdam by Monday. Maybe 2 light workouts before Wednesday's game. Doubt there will be formal training as the players will be coming off weekend matches to play on Wednesday.
Of course we haven't seen enough! There's a lot more that we need to find out about his play and intangibles, but the technical qualities certainly are there! I played in an Alumni game at Clemson in 2004 to celebrate the 20th year anniversary of our first National Championship. I was lucky enough to score our team's first goal - but no, I was not on the Championship team. They played against the "rest of us." Holden was at Clemson at that time and the team watched the alumni game. They played Virginia the next day and, although they lost 0:2, I could tell that Holden was a star in the making. More than anything else IMO, touch on the ball, movement, anticipation, and decision making are better determinants of future success than anything else for midfielders. Holden had that even at his young age ... and Bedoya has that now. Both players displayed those qualities at a VERY high level. What we need are more technical players and Bedoya fits the bill. His first 10 minutes and first 5 touches on the ball were enough to evaluate that he IS very much a highly technical player. The timing of his introduction to the team is interesting ... except for right now, the right thing is to bring him along a little slower, but not as slowly as the USMNT coaches generally integrate players -- that is WAY too slow and they retain "veteran" players WAY past the time they should be let go but, with 5 months before the World Cup, I say you throw him in the deep end for a game or two, and give him a hard look. If he floats, then you've got a diamond in the rough. If he doesn't quite cut it right now, then you bring him back in and turn him loose after the World Cup. With the injuries we have had, it certainly makes sense to integrate such a technical player right now -- you never know what kind of injuries might crop up. He's already 22 -- not 18 -- and IMO, he's raring to go. Who knows when Dempsey will be back. Will we need him and Donovan up top instead of in midfield? Can Davies defy all odds and not only recover, but get back to his pre-injury form? Just in the Honduras game, Alejandro was more involved than Feilhaber (who I really like since I grew up in Brasil too), and showed a WHOLE LOT more quality than Beckerman and Kljestan. I'd even like to see Feilhaber and Bedoya play together for a half or more -- now that would be very interesting! The time is now to give Bedoya a good run out. Holden will be starting his time at Bolton and probably won't be back for the first couple of friendlies. Dempsey is out. Jones is out. Other players will need to spend time with their clubs ... so why not? Let's see what this kid can do. Seriously, go back and watch the last 30 minutes of the game and notice his movement -- he seems to be all over the field, but he's not sprinting around to close down a player -- his movement is efficient AND effective. He doesn't needlessly dive in. The quality is there ... most definitely!!! Now is the time for the coaches to be bold ... audentes fortuna iuvat!
I beg to differ. He has enough time, he's pretty much a lock to play against El Salvador, club permitting. And considering that Kljestan is certainly out of the national team picture, while Rogers's poor form is cause for concern that he may not be part of the 2010 roster. Bedoya has been playing solidly for months, on the other hand, and considering the Dempsey injury, there is also chance he may feature against Holland as well. I don't agree with the op, Bedoya still needs to prove himself. But he's already replaced Kljestan on the roster, which makes him a player on the bubble. If we lose another outside mid to injury or poor form (Which looks likely with Rogers), it's possible he can sneak onto the 2010 squad.
I don't know about the real deal but definitely showed he has some quality and can play at the international level. He should get some time against El Salvador so we can see him some more.
agree, el salvador should be his next match, and they ain't honduras... still, where would bedoya fit into the A team...??
From my point of view............we still have some needs on both wings. He'd be competing with guys like Beasley, Rogers, etc. Personally, I think it's too late for him to make a place on this WC squad. If there's a tie between Bedoya and somebody like DMB, Kljestan, Beasley, etc.........we're going to go with the player that's been with us this cycle. (i.e. not the noobie)
and beasley might be the better defensive option there, having a specific role he could play... now if, dempsey and davies can't make it back, maybe he gets more a look, but it's still at forward where a noobie can impress now and have a shot
Well, Bedoya plays left mid for his club. I imagine the supposition is that, IF Davies doesn't make it back Bob will most likely move either Dempsey or Donovan up top with Jozy. If Donovan is the guy, then there is competition between Bedoya, Beasley, and Rogers......if Dempsey stays right. If it's Dempsey that goes up top, Donovan moves right and opens the same competition on the left. Just guessing at everyone's thinking......welll, likely not everyone.
thanks, if dempsey is healthy, i see dempsey paired with altidore... donovan in midfield.. i can see beasley at left mid, particularly if you want a defensive presence there.... the problem here, is the lack of friendlies... i'd suggest bring bedoya to the dutch camp, and give him 15 minutes late... see if he hacks that level of play... worst case, he's an attack option off the bench
I think he might be able to move ahead of Rogers, but whether he can do so against Torres and Feilhaber is another issue. You got to think that Bradley is probably going to take 9 midfielders total, and of those Bradley, Dempsey and Donovan are locks.
I can't come up with a scenario where he gets 15 minutes against the Dutch. There are players like Holden, Feilhaber, Torres, Beasley etc. who would get those sub minutes. I see the Holland friendly as an "A" team match. We're going to bring in as close to the "A" team as Bob can get. If we start experimenting with noobie players against the Dutch......it could be 6-0 in no time.
I see there are non-believers about Bedoya being the "Real Deal" ... and I have no problem about that. However, I've been around the game long enough to spot it pretty quickly. Could I be wrong? Certainly. Only time will tell ... but I'd be willing to bet on it!
Just can't convince myself that Bradley is going to take 7 defenders. He's got coverage issues on the left, which I think everyone can agree on. He's stacked on the right, sure. But in the middle he's got more problems than most want to notice. Boca is losing minutes in France and by many accounts may be showing his age. Demerit has a propensity for picking up knocks. Gooch is making great progress, but he did tear his patelar tendon. Just a lot of uncertainty there. I'm also against having a hybrid DM/CB a la Edu. That experiment didn't work out so well (not to WC standards) and there's no time to get someone like that up to speed in our set up. Sorry I took this off track, however it's reasonably applicable to Bedoya's aspirations regarding this WC since, in my estimation, there would be one less opening for him on the roster.
If they chose to give him game time it'd more likely be in the 5 minute range for a game like that. He'd be the last sub. At least, in my memory, when we're playing close to the full 'A' team, the noobs were the last subs and got something around 5 min or less. Of course, if Freddy and EJ are getting Greek time, I wouldn't be surprised to see Bedoya passed over to get a fresh look at those two to see how they are progressing.
I really don't see Adu or EJ being in the plans for this WC. EJ is not a WC caliber player and Adu isn't really that close, either. If he can become coachable maybe he gets a chance in 2014
Typically coaches are going to take 2 players at each position, plus one extra goalkeeper for a total of 23. That usually means 8 defenders, 8 midfielders, 4 forwards, and 3 gks. We don't know who is going to get injured at the WC, but it's likely someone will, and so balance is key. We're probably looking at something like this: FW: Davies, Ching, Altidore, Casey Mid: Dempsey, Donovan, Bradley, Feilhaber, Clark, Edu, Bedoya/Torres, Holden Def: Boca, Gooch, DeMerit, Spector, Bornstein, Goodson, Pearce, Marshall GK: Howard, Guzan, Perkins
I think you're rather close with that group, except for missing Dolo over Marshall. Also a note, Torres definitely is ahead of Bedoya at this point. That last midfield spot and two of the striker spots are really the main ones up for grabs at this point. One could easily argue carrying only 3 strikers being that Dempsey will likely be moved there toward the end of one or more matches. This could free up an additional Mid spot, but I don't think Bedoya would be the one to fill it.