AND do you see Bob B winning the Hex anytime soon with his style of "Coaching"? I don't see him winning the UNCAF tournament, much less the Hex. I am currently watching Richard Starikov. If he gets first team minutes at Zenit, he can creep up to a US starter very soon.
I'm over the coaching job at this point. He got the US to the final as was expected by his bosses, he's not going away any time soon, so what's the point of talking about firing him anymore? I know it's cathartic, but I'm moving on and focusing on the things that seem more controllable cause Big Soccer isn't going to get BB fired. If he screws up in WC qualifying, or if our friendly record starts to get dire, he'll be back on the hotseat. (post not directed at you, just in general)
Not with as strong as Mexico looks this cycle, no. But saying he can't get it out it is ridiculous. He has to finish above three of Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and T&T (for instance). What about his coaching makes you think he can't do that? His 6-0 record in meaningful games against Honduras, Jamaica, and T&T?
None of that... just over-reactions to getting beat by a team with clearly more talent. I think its time for new blood for the US, but to think that Bradley cant get us to the World Cup is just a major overreaction! He can easily do that (provided some new players get better) and he could probably do that even if new players don't really emerge.
GK: Howard Guzan Hamid DF: Ream Goodson Lichaj Chandler Spector Gonzalez Whitbread Shea MF: Dempsey Donovan Bradley Jones Holden Edu Gatt Gyau FW: Altidore Davies Adu Agudelo Just Cut: GK: Sean Johnson DF: Zarek Valentin MF: Mikkel Diskerud ST: Teal Bunbury
Complete toss-off 23 Tickets: -Jozy Altidore -Juan Agudelo -Clint Dempsey -Charlie Davies -Landon Donovan -Michael Bradley -Jermaine Jones -Stuart Holden -Jose Torres -Kelyn Rowe -Joe Gyau -Mixx Diskerud -Clarence Goodson -Tim Ream -Maurice Edu -Eric Lichaj -Timmy Chandler -Omar Gonzalez -Geoff Cameron -Jonathan Spector -Tim Howard -Dominic Cervi -Sean Johnson
Well, after that performance, it should be wide open. Other than Adu, Donovan, Dempspey, Dolo, and Boca, the whole team played like crap.
Until someone shows me they are a better RB option than Dolo, I've got him in my 23. Dolo, Donovan, Dempsey, Holden, Howard for me are the locks at this point (barring injury) Everything else, I don't really know.
It's hard to call a 35 year old non-keeper a lock. Perhaps the favorite at the position at the moment, but lock is too far.
Three center backs that anything could happen to: Kyle Davies, Tim Ream, and Omar Gonzalez. Hopefully Ream continues playing well and can regain his starting spot. I wonder how Brek Shea will do over the next couple years. Also, Will Bruin has done pretty well for the Dynamo, he still has a couple years to get better. And as weak as our forward pool is, he, along with any American who plays forward, has a shot. If we try to continue with the players we've been using, we're dead. And I say we'll have a competition for the goalkeeper spot.
It's the inter-generational gap. Happened to Mexico about 3 years ago. Right now the best US players are the old guys, Dolo, Boca, Dempsey, Donovan, Howard. The younger guys aren't established yet. A bit like Mexico playing Blanco, Borghetti and Pavel Pardo when they were ready for Social Sec. Gio, Cheech, Guardado and Barrera paid off. Medina, Esqueda, Barrera didn't show half as much as expected. Their starting mids are old guys. Probably the situation of the USA in a few years, with an aging Jones, Donovan and Dempsey playing in the midfield. Hopefully three or at the very least two of the forward/winger prospects pays off. The big problem is the defense. Mexico has aging defenders, serviceable but they won't be making it to the semis of a World Cup with them any time soon. USA defender situation is a shambles. If Cherundolo and Bocanegra were to retire tomorrow, I'd take the Guadeloupe defense over the American one.
agreed. I have zero confidence in what Dempsey & Donovan will look like in 3 years. And our defense? Wow.. The whole roster is up in the air, up for grabs.. and I'm clueless as to who it will contain.
I definitely don't disagree. I just think as one of our best players in the WC, and one of our best players in the GC until his injury...someone has to step up above his level, and nobody has. And I don't see anyone to do so (assuming Lichaj takes our left back role).
Not high on Chandler then? Also, you need to consider the more depressing thought that nobody steps up to Cherundolo's level but Cherundolo drops to someone else's level. Age will do that to a person.
The feeling I came away with from this game & the GC in general (as I'm sure did many other fans) is that this cycle will be a rebuilding one. While it's true that in every cycle there are additions and subtractions to the player pool, this one will be more problematic in having to replace more key players than in other cycles. The biggest problem is that we haven't identified enough young players that are ready to step in and compete on the int'l level within the next year or two. There are a number of promising players waiting in the wings, but they seem to be several years away.
At what positions is this a rebuilding cycle? We have plenty of options at all the midfield positions on the level of our standard World Cup squad. Jones is an improvement over Clark, Bradley '14 should be over Bradley '10, Edu '14 over Edu '10, Feilhaber '14 over Feilhaber '10, Holden '14 over Holden '10. Maybe Adu even contributes. Donovan and Dempsey are question marks for 2014, but 32 isn't ancient, and it shouldn't shock me to see them as key contributors. I see the midfield as improving at every position unless we suffer bad luck with injuries or club situations. Our options at striker should be no worse than they were in 2006 or 2010. We have at least the promise of improvement at LB, as '14 Lichaj has more promise than '10 Bornstein. The way I see it, the only positions at which we can be considered rebuilding are RB and CB. And at RB, there's at least one talented player (Chandler) who looks ready to contribute. So basically, if we can find some CBs to step in, we aren't rebuilding at all. If we can't, it may be termed a rebuilding cycle, but that will just be to soften the blow of a promising team undone by the inability to find the one or two capable players to plug holes.
Honestly, given the age of many of our players it could be almost anyone except perhaps Bradley, Donovan, and Demspsey. Many of the other guys are pretty good bets to be on the team, but might be squad players rather than lock starters.
Rebuilding is more about a period of uncertainty. Jones is not young, so I consider him one of the "old ones." As for Holden, it's possible he never recovers completely from his injury. Edu could get worse and worse instead of improving. Benny could disappear in the MSL and be just one more of the lot, Adu could fail in Turkey and never get out of European second level leagues, Mike may never again be a starter for a strong team and could end up riding pine loaned to some 2.Bundesliga team. Chandler may prove to be good for club but lousy for country. Lichaj may never learn to keep a proper defensive line. All that is possible. So this is a period of uncertainty. There are no young-and-coming guys proven to be good enough yet, and the ones in the 24-27 range are still question marks. The opposite could also be true, of course. Bedoya and Rogers could grow into awesome wingers, one of Agudelo/Bunbury/Wondo/Jozy may become a starter for a big team and start scoring for the USMNT at a decent rate, Ream and Gonzo may become a pair as solid as Thuram-Gallas. But the problem is that so far we don't know. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. It's possible that by 2014 the CBs are just as bad as they are now. In short, all the "locks" are people who have hit or are about to hit the 30 year old mark. And even Howard is getting long in the tooth for a keeper.
When one team gets to the final, you expect to actually play a good game. The US played poorly and got hammered. You seem to forget, this is not an overreaction. Bob Bradley has to go, because in my eyes, the US is a World Cup semifinal team. This is a team that went to the round of 16 last year and the round of 8 in 2002, and went 3 and out in the group of death in 2006. In order to build on or legacy, we have to at least get to the Round of 16, and the mission is the Round of 8, seriously. So, in any event, the US has to PLAY in a game like this. And frankly, to play mediocre football throughout a tournament and getting hammered in the final is NOT what is expected--Maybe by his myopic boss, Sunil, but nobody else. Currently, YOU are moving the goalposts to lessen expectations from post 2010 goals. If Sunil doesn't understand this, he HAS to go too. It's not ridiculous. You are talking about results from 2010 qualification. And right now, this team looks nothing like the 2009 US team. It's the same players, but they are riddled with complacency. Only the newcomers, like Adu, Bedoya, Jones, and Kljestan, guys who want to hammer down places on the lineup, played with any semblance of passion. Most everybody else mailed it in. Trust me, if Bob Bradley stays, it won't be long before we will start losing to CONCACAF teams. And Berks is wrong, waiting that long when the writing is clearly on the wall is far too late. So, is Panama a team with clearly more talent? We're in a sad state, my friend. We can't "Easily" get to the World Cup as long as BB is coach.
You do realize Mexico lost to Jamaica and Honduras and tied Canada in the most recent World Cup qualifying? Are they more talented now? This is sport, you don't win every game. Also, this is the 23 tickets thread, not the Bob thread. I just realized the roster for Brazil I posted didn't have Guzan on it. Of course, maybe he'll skip that tournament, too.
Guaranteed: - Holden - Dempsey Almost guaranteed but you never know: - Donovan - Howard Other than that the team has sucked so bad recently and enough players have questionable club trajectories at the moment that I wouldn't write anything else in pen yet.
No, Panama doesn't have "clearly more talent" or anything close to it. Just because we lost to them one time doesn't mean anything. We came back and beat them the next time. Also, we don't "clearly have more talent than Spain, but we beat them at the Confed Cup. Same with Egypt who we beat there too. We can Easily qualify for the World Cup with Bob as coach. You DO know there are 10 games in the hexagonal, right? You can afford a bad game or two and still make it, especially when we can (even with Bob) pull off surprise results on the road like a win @ Honduras for example. We aren't in nearly as sad a state as yesterday's scoreline states but we have some major question marks regarding our roster for 2014. Mexico is a very good team who played well and shredded our defense once Cherundolo had to leave the game. That's what happend yesterday. Had Gio not made a world class goal and Dempsey not hit the post the game could've gone to extra time.
THIS IS WHAT YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE. And that's sad. A surprise result against Honduras? You mean like we had in 2002? A team that can make a Confederation Cup final, a win over Honduras is not supposed to be a "Surprise result". It's supposed to be a given. Are you seriously lowering the bar back to 1998 qualification benchmarks? A surprise result? The USA drawing El Salvador on the road. That was a shock. We should have won but we played toothless until Hejduk and Torres came on. Bob Bradley was outcoached by Carlos De Los Cobos, who has proven to be very mediocre as well. Should tell you something about Bob Bradley's coaching ability. As far as 10 games in the Hexagonal- Let's say this- You need about 18 points out of 30 to clearly get to the World Cup. That's basically winning all of your home games and taking one on the road. As of now, I see the US in the 12-15 point range, barely qualifying or maybe needing a playoff, which I don't see us winning. Truth be told, I don't see us even coming close to beating Mexico in Azteca, and I think Mexico, with Bob, can whomp us in Columbus. And believe me, that will slam our team down the rabbit hole of failure even more. So that's one home game win gone. Maybe we can draw a team on the road or two, so yeah, that's 13-14 points. Simply put, that's barely qualifying or going to playoff land. And "barely qualifying if at all" is lowering the benchmark. We ARE supposed to go forward, as in "We lost in the round of 16 but next time we are round of 8". As of now, I don't see Bob Bradley advancing out of any group in a World Cup. If we can barely advance out of a Gold Cup group, we're done, man.