If that kid was named anything other than Bradley........we'd be going insane over him. The guy scored 18 goals from midfield in the eredevisie......and a whole segment of US fans try to find a way to dismiss the accomplishment. (and every other one of his accomplishments) Meanwhile, when Freddy Adu actually scores a goal in Greece......Big Soccer is going to melt down. I'm convinced that as a group......Big Soccer won't be able to truly appreciate Michael Bradley until his father isn't the coach of the USMNT any longer. Which is a shame.......he's an American 22 year old who's a starter in the Bundesliga. Pretty damn good.
I know this seems a bit needy, but has any of our video heavy posters comprised a clip of all his touches? I'd surely do so if one were to send me the match.
I'm in full agreement with you on this, but let's please not take this thread down that well-worn path. As for Bedoya, I absolutely would not count this kid out of the picture for WC 2010. We saw what injecting some youth, talent, and unbridled self-confidence into the side can do in 2002. I, for one, am not even remotely sold on the idea that Beasley can make the squad. People started singing his praises loudly after his successful but extremely short stint with the first team at 'Gers, ready to put him into their squad for 2010. I think people seriously jumped the gun on that, and I'm not saying that simply b/c of the injury that has kept him out. (What's up with that, anyway? It was supposed to be minor.) I certainly want to see Bedoya get opportunities in the next two matches, and if he shines, I see no reason why he wouldn't have a legitimate shot at making the team.
I hate to say it but I think Bradley has already made up his mind on the roster for SA. Its evident in his love affair with players like his son, Bornstein, Casey, and Ricardo Clark while other, potentially stronger players (Castillo, Bedoya, Torres) hardley ever get playing time.
Potential is the key word. You don't pick a roster for the world cup on potential, you pick a roster based on how well they're playing now and six months down the line. Im sick of hearing about "potential." For a tournament where one game can mean the difference between failure and glory, give me players who are playing well now.
I meant potentially as in we will never know if they can actually play if Bradley doesnt give them a shot. Granted, Castillo hasnt been readily available but to sub him in at a different position? Torres has probably played one full game over the course of multiple 75th minute substitutions. Is Castillo an upgrade over Bornstein? Is Torres better than Clark? We honestly cant say that we know until Bradley sits one of his BFFs.
This is awesome. I needed a new left wing for my Messiah XI fantasy team. I have every hope that with time, I can promote him to my False Messiah XI senior squad.
basic problem is there isn't time to go experimenting all over the place.... there's an established core right now, introducing multiple new faces who haven't played together is so risky, 3 and out will happen... maybe one new face, being a team is how usa will succeed... just because talent on the ball is better, does not mean you're better defensively or understand the team concept...
I agree. My tiff is that Bradley probably could have inserted one of the "potentials" into a lineup in the past. We cant go off experimenting now that we need to have the main core set for June, but I feel like Bradley should be playing the "potentials" or backups in certain positions that have starters out with injury instead of moving people like Bornstein all over the place. For example, we know what Casey can and cant do, so why play him in meaningless games when we can assess someone like Findley or Tracey?
jones would be one new face who could pull it off... none of the mexicans have his pedigree... the pain jones has is NOT a good sign, i doubt he's gonna make it back painfree.... castillo and torres are talented, but do they really fit into the american style of play... maybe the 2014 cycle, with a new manager, but your ready to take final exams, i don't see either getting time, other than sub minutes
If one more person comes into the Nat thread fellating Castillo, I'm going to put a bullet through my monitor. This is a guy who has had absolutely terrible form for quite some time. Sorry, he is not better than Bornstein. The bar is not that high, yet Castillo keeps knocking it over.
If Torres and Castillo hadn't been waffling for years on which national team they wanted to represent, they wouldn't be in this position. Castillo apparently decided he wasn't Mexican when they stopped calling him up. Torres has been declining callups for years now.....way back to the Olympic squad in 2008. Remember that both Torres and Castillo were called up for the friendlies against Slovakia and Denmark. Torres declined the invitation altogether to focus on club commitments, and Castillo declined to show up for the Slovakia match. Actually when you add up the number of matches which Castillo has been eligible for.......then subtract the invitations he declined........you'd find out that Bob has looked at him as much as he can. Add on top of that the fact that he's a pretty miserable soccer player.........................if people bothered to watch him in club football. There's a reason Mexico stopped calling him up, and allowed him to switch allegiances to their main rival. And by Tracey you must mean Marcus Tracy. Bob called him up the first realistic time he could (for camp cupcake), the kid got injured, and went home. And unless I'm mistaken Robbie Findley started against Honduras.......and did f*ck all. (not really his fault, but true nonetheless).
Not sure what you mean here. With 23-man rosters, versatility is a major thing to look at when filling out the roster. If you look at the last couple WC rosters as a guide, if you're not either good enough to be an automatic starter or play a very specialized position (GK, CB, CF), you probably need to be able to play at least 2 different positions in order to make the WC roster.
What I meant was, I wouldn't drop a true defender (take only 7 CBs and FBs) given our current injury/PT situation, to take 9 midfielders relying on one who could play mediocre CB (following my Edu example) in a pinch. I'd much rather carry that 8th defender and be able to count on one of them to cover midfield in a pinch a la Spector/Pearce/Bornstein. I'm not arguing for or against any of those players. Just using them as quick examples.
I like to give Torres the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his declining a call up. From what I've seen, he doesnt really fit Bradley's counterattacking/long ball system of play so whats the point of going to sit the bench? I would still love to see him play more to get the experiance. Also, we cant safely say that any of your aforementioned players would have done any worse with the full team. Rogers looked pretty good that one time he was subbed in (maybe Costa Rica? The nation escapes me). Its seems that kids like Beckerman, Rogers, Marshall, and Goodson only get playing time during Camp Cupcake or the Gold Cup. I would think that things might be different if those players were lined up with Donovan, Dempsey, and Spector than Heaps, Arnaud, and Pause. Also, before anyone goes on chastising me about experimenting with lineups before SA, dont. I'm mearly stating that Bradley could have slide one or two "potentials" into a game here and there in the past like he should have with Castillo but instead put him in at a left mid position.
As I recall, Bradley was in MLS in 2004 & 2005, so if he was born in 1987, he had to be 19 or almost 19 when he went to Europe in 2006. My overall point was not to shed any disrepute on Bradley, it was to simply say that if Bedoya is to become a key MNT player, he will do it by evolving over time, not because he is the next coming of Reyna. Bedoya's only chance to make this year's WC squad is to display solid skills combined with very good defensive capabilities. That said, he probably doesn't have enough time to displace those who are already ahead of him on the depth chart, unless we lose some of those players to injury.
Firstly, Beckerman and Goodson are definitely not "kids". Beckerman turns 28 in April and has been around a long time, as long as Donovan, Beasley, Onyewu and Dempsey. He's just never impressed enough to warrent callups, and in his few callups recently I'd say the US coaches the last 2 WC cycles were basically right. Goodson turns 28 in May. He's been knocking on the door for nearly 2 years now and hasn't really been ignored. Indeed, he seems to be pushing Marshall for the 4th CB spot with the US, as both leave Conrad in the dust. Secondly, these B-team trials definitely do yield players, when those players show a special spark. Holden was the best player for the US at the B-team Gold Cup, and he's become a pretty regular member of the 18-man rosters since. Marshall has also joined the regular game-day callups since a solid Gold Cup performance, getting a start vs El Salvador and on the bench at Trinidad in September. But he's also battled injuries and he just hasn't yet pushed his way past Onyewu, DeMerit, and Boca as the primary CB's for the most serious matches. A national team coach can't go through every prospect in an endless hope for finding players. So, Castillo is a favorite of yours, but he simply hasn't shown enough yet. A small, backup player in Mexico with a reputation for dodgy defending, but some skillful attacking. He's been looked at and judged as marginal for now. Some promising new players (Holden) have taken their chances and joined the team; others have not. That's the way it works.
I wasnt being literal with the ages. They can be considered kids relative to certain people. I know I'm walking a fine, delicate line here. I'm not advocating anyone to be consistent starters or to completely write them off. What I'm trying to say is that I would like to have some of those players to get a few reps before we make any assumptions. Everyone knows the club level and international level are completely different. Twellman was an MLS tear before his injuries. Casey is in the same group. Good at club level, not so good for the nats. Even Dempsey plays differently for club and country. This is really bad timing for me to be bringing this debate up since we have limited time before SA and even more limited access to players because of the FIFA no-call dates. We gave Adu and Johnson some playing time and now we know where they stand. I am in not a Castillo fan in anyway, hell I havent even seen him play. I keep using him as an example for all the hype he brings.
Raidernetcrew BigSoccer Member Join Date: Dec 2009 You haven't learned in the six weeks you have been a member that the Big Soccer hype machine is full of enough manure to fertilize the midwest?
Which game did you want him to "slide" Castillo into? He was officially eligible for the US in September of 09. He subsequently got hurt, and you wouldn't play him in a world cup qualifier anyway. The guy wasn't available to play for the US until the Slovakia/Denmark games. He declined the callup to the Slovakia game, and made a sub appearance against Denmark as his first cap. Then he couldn't go to camp cupcake/Honduras as the Mexican club season has started? I hesitate to understand where Bob has gone wrong with Castillo.....and yet people still argue about this. The guy flat-out hasn't been available. It's like people complaining that Bradley gets all the caps at central mid......until you go thru game by game and show that players X,Y,and Z weren't available for an assortment of reasons (injury, denied callup, etc.) Beckerman doesn't get many callups for the reasons he showed us against Honduras......and I'm a Beckerman fan. And the fact that we have significant depth at that position. When Jones joins us, Beckerman is at best 7th on our central mid depth chart (Jones, Bradley, Torres, Edu, Clark, Feilhaber).....and I think that Dax McCarty out-played him over the second half of the MLS season. I was sitting in the stands when Dallas tonked RSL with a month to go in the season, and I know Dax seriously out-played him that day. Saying all that........Jones, Edu, and Clark are all injured right now. So perhaps Beckerman or Dax get called in for the Holland game if those 3 aren't recovered. Maybe.
From what I have seen of him Castillo would get raped by international players if he were to play left back.
You mean, when Torres failed to track back to cover the gaping hole at left back behind him named DeMarcus Beasley? Of course Torres played bad defensively- You can't play two positions at once! As a mid, you have to learn when you can let a player by and trust your left back. Even if Torres cut off his own nuts, he's obviously glued them back on during the second match against Costa Rica.