Gold Cup:US vs Panama 3rd Place: General Postgame Thread(R)

Klinsmann rode Bradley until there was nothing left of him. He is going to need weeks to recover from this tournament. Terrible player management. It's not like this tournament was held in the spring or fall in reasonable temperatures and humidity.

 

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought isn't won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exclaiming,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
--------- Walt Whitman

 

Amen.

 

I remember people saying things like: I have some quibbles, but overall not bad. Remember, the prelim roster looked younger and included Besler. I think JK underwhelmed with his choices for the final roster and knockout round updates, even though that was mitigated by injury and club situations

 

I agree it was a horrid display. But after Klinsmann played him 90 minutes in 5 straight games, needlessly in the fourth one, we might have expected a stinker in the sixth relatively meaningless match after just a couple days rest.

 

So what excuses the stinkers in just about every game preceding?

Bradley didn't show up to the Gold Cup, mentally. And Klinsmann amplified it. Takes two to tango on that one.

 

What a mess!!

I've watched almost every USMNT game since I got into soccer with the birth of MLS in 1996. I can't recall another game where the team seemed not to care. There have been some bad tournaments (Copa America 2007), but nothing like this Gold Cup '15 disaster.

Klinsmann has got to go. Gulati also. Neither will, short of failing to qualify for Russia. And the program will continue to stagnate or back slide. What was it the PT Barnum said?

The US is on the verge of having a top flight men's national team and always will be.

 

Bradley is a very good player, but I agree he had a bad tournament. That said, he isn't the maestro he's being asked to be. I think after one or two games, a smart coach should have made adjustments. From the another thread:

 

I agree he played horribly but I think Bradley just got run into the ground over the course of the GC. If there was one player that could take a game off it is him.

 

I don't really know the palm greasing that goes on in USSF, but if it got bad enough to where they were taking financial hits on the field to offset that

I had an epiphany after reading this parallel - Walter White was derived from Walt Whitman from the very beginning. It wasn't just part of the plot created later to confuse Hank and keep the mystery going.

What a brilliant show. The best ever, hands down.

 

False. I love Michael Bradley's spirit and never say quit attitude, but he has taken it to the level where he seems to believe that it is truly up to him to do everything, to the detriment of the entire team. It's not just taking all the corners and free kicks (which typically are horrible), or the dropping back constantly almost to his own penalty box to pick up the ball from the defense, it's the constant barrel ahead, "I'm going to dribble through 4 guys", only to lose the ball rather than pass that's the kicker.

Bradley and Klinsmann need to realize someone else (and not Dempsey) needs to be the primary attacking midfielder, and get Bradley to focus more on defense and complimenting that attacker. Imagine if we had someone like Armas in terms of defensive tenacity, but with actual passing skills and the ability to generate some offense rather than more often than not giving it right back. That's what Jones was (maybe still is) and Bradley could be if he focused on that and was allowed to by his coach.

 

He doesn't even know how to facepalm correctly.

 

I don't think there was universal approval from any quarters around these parts. There were complaints about the forwards, midfielders, and the defense, even the 3rd keeper was an issue. There's no way whatsoever someone can argue there was consensus approval for the roster, but as was said earlier, there were and are so many injuries to our kids right now, that there weren't a lot of other options anyway (some, but not a lot).

 

Not letting anyone off for poor play, but the field situation sucked except for the last game. After watching the WNT playing on turf (which I hate), it was just as frustrating to see grass laid on turf. Grass seams everywhere , balls not bouncing true, slick footing from sliding patches. Uggg....

I'm not sure I'm going to watch future Gold Cups unless they play on natural grass. I was less bothered by watching our qualifier game in Antigua on a lousy field in the mud/rain.

 

Wasn't this the 3rd place game for the Gold Cup? did anyone actually care? There is nothing to see here, this game was actually lower in importance than a friendly. I didn't even watch the game. Let Panama have their moment of "glory", they've suffered so much.

Now, the playoff is a different story. Even the upcoming friendlies will be 100x more important than this game.

 

OK, maybe "universal approval" is too broad. But I just spent way too much time looking through the preliminary roster thread and the disagreements are kind of minor — not the strenuous argument we've seen before:

http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/the-gold-cup-preliminary-roster-has-been-submitted.2020996/

There's also some slack given for injury, unsettled club situations and giving the guys from the recent youth tournaments a break.

 

Didn't see it...but losing a very winnable, "meaningless" 3rd place game in your home tournament does tell me there are off the field, motivational or personality issues which are putting lead in this team's wings. Who will fall on his sword for the sake of US Soccer pride after this debacle?

 

Could we please stop blaming MLS for Michael Bradley's struggles? The guy is not a creative midfielder and will continue to struggle while Kinsman deploys him as such.

Dempsey hasn't been struggling and LD was the Man throughout his career despite playing at home most of it.

Stop falling for JK's propaganda and buying into his pre-planted excuses. Bradley would be fine as a DM or simple retainer in a SOLID midfield 3.

 

What? How did you figure it out?

 

Michael Bradley 2015 would be a disaster as a DM for the USMNT. He can't take the ball away from anyone and it's way too easy to strip him of the ball. I hope his foot isn't off again.

 

He's got the capability. He needs a coach to put him in a comfortable role. Let's not make Bradley the fall guy for Klinsmann's failings.

 

I totally agree, and glad someone posted this since I'd forgotten since. I didn't wanna whine about it because it was reason #6,409 why the USMNT struggled in the GC. But that turf was AWFUL and visibly affected several moments in the game. I can think of two with Johannsson and Fabian Johnson off the top of my head.

 

To me, Bradley is pretty much a classic #8...not a #10, not a #6. Putting him in either role is a waste.

And I would add that in modern football, the #10 role is the world's most endangered species.

 

Due to the fact that the world's best #10, Messi, has redefined the role and the standard at which the best may be expected to perform.
Every other #10 pales in comparison, therefore, endangering the notion of what a modern #10 ought to be providing.