If both of those players made it on the squad, i would walk to Bob's office and tell him to write me a 500-page essay on why that is a good idea.
There are plenty of Adu discussions, a new one recently started regarding the WC. We should leave this thread to discuss Bedoya.
I wish I were that young again!!! I'm not connected to him in any way, but the kid's got talent. A year from now you can tell me I was right.
The logic makes sense as a basic starting point on one hand. Then on the other hand you have the following track record from real World Cups: Players who did not play for the US in the last 4 Cups: 2006: Albright, Berhalter, Ching 2002: Regis, Cherundolo (injury) 1998: Agoos, Lalas 1994: Burns, Lapper, Reyna (injured), Klopas, Moore * 8 of 12 players who did not play were defenders. 67% * The 7th and 8th defenders basically are not used. * Every healthy US midfielder has been used in the last 4 Cups. The only player less useful than the 3d keeper is the 8th defender. You can make a very strong case for taking only 7 defenders, 9 midfielders, and 4 forwards.
I'd garauntee one of them makes it. Anyway, as far as Bedoya goes.........I have no idea how anybody can make any serious judgements based on one sub appearance. Unless, of course, they watch the Swedish league on a regular basis. If they do...........I say get a life.
Theoretically, yes, but several of our lock defenders are either somewhat injury prone and/or will have returned from injury fairly recently (Onyewu, DeMerit, Dolo, Spector). This year, 8 defenders seems like a no-brainer to me.
Typically you're going to stick with the same defenders the whole Cup, unless they are injured, so it's not surprising that the extra defenders would not play. However, if one goes down and you don't have a replacement...trouble! You don't want to replace an outside defender with a central one or vice-versa. And most players play better on one side or the other. So I think the insurance policy of 4 extra defenders is justified. However, you could take only 1 extra central defender and roll the dice. It really depends on the versatility of the personnel on the roster.
That's just paranoia stemming from the rash of injuries the US player pool sustained between November and now. Dolo's injury was nothing and Demerit is back after a freak eye problem. Bocanegra is getting playing time again, Bornstein is on the up and up, and Onyewu will be plenty ready by May. Spector is the only "injury prone" and the other top 5 defenders should all be healthy in June. Marshall had that #4 CB spot locked up until last Saturday. I've always said that with Bocanegra and Spector's versatility, only 7 is necessary.
I'll just say I have the same feeling about him that I got from Torres after his debut. It was definitely different from Rogers and Castillo's debuts.
He doesn't. At least not in any WC 18 I can dream up barring, horrific loss in MF due to injuries. He suffers from the same problem that Beckerman does- we're stronger than ever in midfield depth, with numerous talented European based players. However, I think he could be a solid talent for 2014. If he's going to play outwide this summer... Donovan (Wing Forward- AM) Dempsey (Wing Forward- AM) Holden (Winger) Beasley (Winger) Both: Feilhaber (LMF) Torres (LMF) have played outwide under Bradley- And then you have: Rogers (Winger) Beckerman (CM) At the very least Bedoya is behind all of those guys, currently to make the team. He may have just passed Kljestan, even that is not certain. Then you have Bradley + (Clark, Jones, Edu). If nine midfielders go, all four of these guys could make the team. Obviously Donovan and/or Dempsey could be out or moved uptop. Then its still Bradley,Feilhaber,Holden, Clark, Jones, Beasley, Torres, Edu, Rogers (That's 9, and he's still on the outside, with possibly 11 guys who could legitimately play in midfield on the roster.) So he probably has to pass some combination of Torres, Holden, Kljestan, possibly Adu, and Beckerman. I don't know if he can do all that, even with a good performance against El Salvador, he may not make the camp for the Netherlands. Count me as one who wants to see him early and often in the next cycle- and if he can beat out the right combination of guys mentioned above this year, more power to him. I just don't see it.
If we only start Bedoya and Adu in SA, we'll WIN THE WHOLE FREAKING THING!!!!! OMG, USA 2010 CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am with the OP--as much as one can be after 30 minutes. Sometimes, I watch a player and am impressed just by the way the player moves. It mostly is not quantifiable at first. Going back and quantifying, all the things are there. I remember going to a Rapids game a few years ago--one of many games I went to--and watching them take on the Revs. There was a player on the Revs, #2, that drew my eye about 10 minutes in. It was something about his first few steps. There was nothing spectacular--just something that seemed special. I had to get a program and learned this guy's name was Clint Dempsey. I got the same feeling about Bedoya. The guy can move. He is confident. He is strong. He is fast. He can run. He is creative. He seemed to take charge of the space around him. Again, only 30 minutes in 3-0 friendly. But at this point, he looked a heck of lot better in 30 minutes than Benny did in 90. Guy definitely deserves a start against El Salvador and if he shows again, he should get invited to play against Holland.
No Demerit has a history of small leg injuries like hammy or groin. It may not be as many as it seems, but I recall him missing a few camps because of injuries like this. It may not be a lot, but it is bad timing for his Nats career in the past.
In this case, the fact that our best central defender (Onyewu) may not be ready to go and that his likely partner/replacement (Bocanegra) is both getting little playing time and possibly needed out left, depending on match-ups, means that the team will probably need all eight defenders. Also, as others have pointed out elsewhere, it's true that we haven't used all eight defenders recently, but it's also true that we haven't played as many World Cup games recently as we would have liked. IIRC, if we'd gotten past Germany in 2002, the card situation would have required using our eighth defender. And if we'd gotten past the opening round of 2006, cards and/or injuries might well have meant using eight defenders as well. So I see where you're coming from, but I don't think I agree.
Off the top of my head, Cherundolo missed the 2002 WC, the 2007 Gold Cup and the 2009 Confederations Cup all due to injuries. He also missed several qualifiers this cycle due to injuries, and he turns 31 next month. DeMerit's eye problem was a freak occurrence but, as another poster pointed out, he has a history of ill-timed injuries. He too is over 30. Spector you conceded and Onyewu is out currently with a major knee injury. That's four of the seven defenders that many people think we should bring. In my opinion, we need eight.
Bedoya comes from the same niche as Davies (Boston College, Allsvenskan). Davies had a so-so first season there, Bedoya no worse. Though they play different positions, you cannot ignore the similarities. Give Bedoya the chance and he may reward coach Bob.
Holy crap! Bedoya is Messi! He should be in the XI............... Seriously though, next cycle and one game on his debut is overreacting just like we are overreacting about the Honduras loss. I'm guilty too, but I think my hangover from it is over.
Michael Mason, David Wagner, Peter Vagenas, Jorge Salcedo, Sasha Victorine, Dante Washington, Kyle Martino (the classic case!), Peter Philipakos, Santino Quaranta (I got pulled in by him), John Thorrington, Kamani Hill, Justin Mapp, Lee Nyugen, Eddie Gavin, Danny Szetela (another who got me), etc... The examples are endless.
The Philipakos one was the best. Bruce Arena was the dumbest man on earth if he wasn't going to cap him.
Yep. Now the guy's playing at Chersonissos in the 3rd division of Greek football. Big Soccer (and soccer fans in general) obsess about the new young player. And Mr Martin is right about Kyle Martino.......the zenith of that hype being the 2003 Confederations Cup draw against Cameroon. Just about everybody thought the guy was going to be a sure-fire member of the 06 WC squad. But it wasn't meant to be. Bedoya could turn out to be really good, or never play for us again. One short sub appearance doesn't tell anything.