I think Bradley is a very poor coach, I just choose to criticize him for his real faults instead of the horseshit that you came up with in your original post. There are an abundance of things to criticize BB for and all you came up with is this ************ thread. You have to be an ignoramus to settle for the nepotism and favoritism bit. On top of that you out did your ************ topic with even shittier examples. The China match and Copa America callups? Really? I guess idiots rule on this forum and you are the king.
3500 posts and that's what you come up with? You must feel right at home in this forum. There's one positive that comes from lamebrained favoritism and nepotism threads, they help with my ignore list. I guess the ironic part of all of this is that I think Michael Bradley should be fourth on the central mid depth chart and I pray that Bob Bradley is fired before the Hex. Don't mistake my arguing against the sheer stupidity of this thread as any sort of faith in Bob.
I agree the nepotism angle is overplayed, but thing is you're not adding any more to the thread than the other idiots. If you're too clever for the thread then you should have better things to be doing.
Why are MLS fixtures taking importance over national team games? I keep reading that guys are being picked because they need to play for their MLS teams. MLS should observe the FIFA dates. It will only help their cause. I became a die-hard soccer fan by watching the national team first. I know not everyone will follow the same steps I have taken but if we have our best against Brazil and do well people will be more inclined to watch soccer in the US.
I'm inclined to see a bit more potential, given our overall set-up, in Pearce than Bornstein, but I can grudgingly conceed that point. I see lots of potential in M. Bradley. I think he's our next John O'Brien. I do not think he should be our current first choice midfielder next to Feilhaber though. IMO that should be Clark. (And I do not agree with any argument that Feilhaber isn't absolutely our #1 central midfield choice.) I can see the possibility (not likelihood, possibility) that Kljestan could be a decent central midfielder. But definitely not a winger as he's mostly been used. Definitely not a winger. Jesse Marsch? I think that run-out against China was simply due to the fact that Chivas had an off-day on the schedule and everybody else in MLS was spoken for. (And he likes him.) I think that about covers it.
"civil answer"...well, you don´t need to tell us what is civil answer and what not...you are not teacher or moderator here....all this thread is Maximum Optimaled only!.
I have the feeling that Maximum Optimal will dictate us what is right and what not.....i did not find it funny when he attacked me only because I said that I prefered Szetela....this is soccer forum..no one of us is professional....I keep me informed about US soccer mostly from Bigsoccer, from you fans....we all are fans, no coaches or soccer players...so why to take all this discussion seriously?... Maximum Optimal gives us feeling that he he is the king and critize every "not civil" answer....i did not find it nice of him when he laughed me about my quesitons Adu/Ghana....I can not know everything about US soccer..and if I have a question, I have you here, to come and ask.... no one has a right to tell me what is right question or not... I feel like this thread is a "court" where MO decide who is right and who not. i deleted yesterday few my posts because every post was attacked here...maybe I just should have left my post here.....we have democracy and everyone can express free opinion.. and there are another thread where you can have a lot of fun. soccer should be a fun I have been fan of american soccer since 2002...and I´m happy to have you all here that provide me with information about USMNT...but if I see that posters only try to attack each other and try to tell you what is right or not, then I was wondering about mentality of some "fans of american soccer" Soccer should be fun!!! your german friend bltleo
actually Maximum optimal is not that so young cherry picker, look at his profile..(age 45)..a man his age should really know how to behave more diplomatic...and not only attack posters here.
Its your blatant character assassination of other posters and discussing things other than the topics on hand while continually SPAMMING the thread with mass posts without adding anything different or of substance that doesn't belong here.
Bradley and Clark have the same minutes post Copa ONLY because Bradley was away from the mens team while playing in the u-20 tournament. You seem to be glossing over that highly relevant portion. Bradley wasn't available. If he were, he would have gotten the minutes over his competition, as he has every other time he has been available to his father. Only you wouldn't see that Bob's clear playing pattern is Mastro and Bradley when they are both available. Bob's calling up of Mastro for the Brazil game before having to drop him when he realized he wasn't healthy enough to play (although both Mastro and Clark had weekend games in MLS), was further indication of this. As for the call, only someon with YOUR clear bias would think that the US wasn't on the receiving end of a bogus call that probably cost Canada the game. I guess if I was biased, then 90% of the rest of US fans were biased too, when AT THE TIME OF THE GAME, nearly the entire boards here admitted that they saw it as i did, and not as you did. Kinda puts the biased shoe on your foot, huh? But you are right on one thing. We wouldn't be having this convo if Mike's last name wasn't Bradley ......... because if it wasn't, he'd be getting the minutes he deserves, namely 10 or 15 minutes of mop-up duty at the end of some select games, instead of starting minutes over players that are right now better than him.
Or just maybe Bradley realized that Clark and Feilhaber would be the only two central midfielders available for both the Gold Cup and the Copa America, and thus decided to rest both of them during the later stages of the cup to keep them fresh for the Copa America. And, maybe it was agreed with Houston that Clark would be allowed to miss so much time for both summer tournaments so that he might be excluded from some of the less meaningful summer friendlies.
funny answer....well, I would not use words idiots...we should use word: fans...we are just soccer fans, no soccer professionals...and if someone of us had been really professional, he would probably earn money with soccer idea and not be here..this forum is mostly for fans..fans that love soccer....some fans know more about soccer..some have less information...but the only thing we all have in common - our love to soccer...and this bigsoccer community is for us here to exchange our ideas, information, opinions..but not to call each other idiots.... with big love to soccer.. bltleo or is US soccer fan mentality different?
I did read those threads on the Youth board and generally found many of the people who were bashing Bradley there are the same people who continuously spout this nepotism crap. Look I hope you're right about Szetela. He does have some very good potential...but right now Bradley is starting for a decent team and Szetela was struggling to get minutes at Columbus. Those are facts not opinions. We don't know if Szetela will ever start in Spain. A team purchased him but that means little...over the years a lot of US players that never amounted to anything were on the rosters of big league teams. When Szetela actually starts getting real playing time there...then you can make your case that he's better than Bradley. Until then...yes...saying Szetela is better than Bradley is pure lunacy. It's like saying Mapp is better than Beasley.
Very much a possibility. But still conjecture. Neither side of this argument is "fact". Which, again, is totally and completely acceptable to most here. It's kind of the reason for having an argument, in fact, and the reason for holding public forums.
Which, of course, doesn't stop a crapload of posters around here from saying it. (I agree with you, by the way, and have had lengthy discussions on the very subject. I just thought it was funny. )
Yet in 2003 it was unquestionable that Szetela was the superior player. By far. Danny was a key starter playing up a year in WC U17s, and looking very good in the process, while Michael Bradley was a fringe Bradenton Residency kid. And they are the same age. It's possible that Mikey got waaay better and Szetela went backwards, such that Mike is now far better. It's a lot more likely that the apparent gap between them in 2003 was not as large as advertised, and the apparent gap between them today is also exaggerated. In fact, I think there is no gap at all.
You are trying to pull a snow job on this one. Because Szetela had gotten interest from Roma, Lazio, Newcastle, and Racing Santander doesn't mean they confirm your belief in Szetela's superior ability. The interest of those clubs is meaningless. It's really a matter of cost and convienience. 1. Convienience because Szetela HOLDS A EUROPEAN PASSPORT AND THUS WOULD NOT COUNT AS A FOREIGN PLAYER in those leagues. Therefore, he is more accessible. Bradley has an American passport only. They like to keep those slots open typically for African and South American talent. Why do you think there are no American players in the Spanish League? 2. Cost........It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Bradley would cost far more than Szetela. He is playing for Heerenveen and they are known for developing players. They will get full price for Bradley if they sell him. MLS just is not selling players for large amounts of money.......this isn't Holland, France or Brazil..........countries that have clubs that sell players for big money. Szetela, on the other hand, is at the end of his contract and, frankly, didn't exactly light MLS up. MLS did the right thing. Like his coach said, in 5 years he could be playing in Serie A or the A League. Bottom Line: Szetela comes cheap and doesn't occupy an important foreign player spot. He is basically a lottery ticket and will be treated as such in 2 or 3 years.
In 2003 Szetela was the biggest and baddest player on th team. Not much chance that he will be bigger than a little Mikey ever again.
szetela's injuires have limited his progress, but his up side is higher than bradley... we're talking about two potentially gifted players who will be in the usmnt mix for 10-12 years... right now, i like feilhaber with clark, but clark has reached his maturity and is less likely to get much better... szetela and bradley are likely to get better for 3 or 4 years... i see szetela with more offensive upside, a guy you want getting forward, while bradley is clearly more dmid than anything..... a rotation of bradley, szetela and feilhaber, pick 2 of 3 based on need is the sort of depth you want, given tactics of a match.... this idea that peoples opinions are more valid than others, it all depends on the merit of the opinion... whether evidence clearly exists to support it... in soccer, this black and white world rarely exists
Yeah, that's true, which not only explains Mikey catching up on Szetela, but also the foolishness of reading much into U17 performances. But the other half of the equation is that Danny was pretty effing good competing against big, bad players from Spain and Brazil, most of whom were a year older than him. The guy was a top prospect, one of the rare U.S. youth players who looked to be a legitimate bet to make a top European club a few years down the line. So in that light, it's a bit odd to hear him described as a guy who is of a different quality than a player at a mid-tier Dutch club.
There's a much simpler explanation.... With your superior "logic" I'm sure you can figure out what it is.
I don't know. The last biannual Szetella hype wave sounded pretty much the same " So, that idiot Sigi starting whom instead of Szetela? Benny Filbaker? Never heard of him. Is he from UCLA? Of course, one of Sigi's boys." I do believe that Clark should be ahead of Bradley for now. But it's difficult to compare Herenveen to MLS. But to compare Clark (MLS All Star) to Szetela (Columbus' bench) pretty easy. So I believe there is quite a gap between Bradley and Szetela.