I think you need to look at what happened. The game was tied when Bradley decided to go for the win by changing Ben Olsen for Eddie Gaven. Gutsie move by Bradley, but it did backfire. Eddie Gaven thought he was playing forward and let Messi go towards the defense unimpeded thereby leading to the second goal. I hope Bradley learned that against Argentina, specially an incredible stacked side, sometimes you should be happy with a tie. Hope there is a breakaway towards the end and steal a win. I believe in Bradley, as he did put his team in a position to compete but hopefully he learns a little from this game. I still think this team will be okay in Copa America.
amazing. another guy who apparently doesn't know or understand the facts. maybe when you guys cool down and get your heads on straight again you'll bother to find out why we did what we did and why last night was no disaster.
Now, the big question is ....Is Bob Bradley doing something Bruce Arena did not do?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????'.. I hate those loser who love to dream, i hate that shiiiiiiiiiiiiitttt, those who are extremely comfortable with winning a gold cup with third world teams who most of them ranked 89 , 100 etcc in the Fifa Ranking. THis is called thinking small, thinking as a loser. I love to beat ARgentina, Brazil, Paraguay, then when we do that i will be happy. For the people here that talk so much garbage and think its not important to beat those copa america teams, Youuu are a loserrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, crap, shut the helllll up.
Everyone on here is missing the big picture. Winning the gold cup was priority #1. Copa America was just a bonus for us to even be invited to. We won the gold cup and Bradley decides to take a youthful side to Copa America. Even if we took our A+++++ team, odds are likely we wouldnt have done extremely well anyways. Bradley is getting a team ready for a tournament that is three years away. Who gives a damn about FIFA rankings?? They dont get you damn thing. All that matters is getting our youthful side, at this time, some much needed experience. You can yell all you want at Bradley at a 4-1 defeat, but did anyone notice the difference in our style of play. Instead of the USA teams of old who would bunker down in their own half and pray for a 0-0 draw, this team went out and played, keyword PLAYED, with the favorites to win this tournament. Our one and two touch passing is better, and our speed of play has increased a ton. Now that we are playing a style of soccer that can be competitive on the World level, not just in our region; add a some more experience for these guys and watch this team sail to new heights. Come on people, use your head and look at what is really important.
My short answer the original question is, yes, Bob Bradley knows exactly what he is doing. We, on the other hand, do not. The next question is, does that matter? And the answer is unfortunately, no.
Let's look away from the means and analyse the ends: why is inclusion in the Confed Cup of any value? To play against better competition. Ah, but isn't that what the Copa America offers, too? And this is where I don't see eye-to-eye with your views. Why can't Bradley take the Copa America as seriously as he would the Confed Cup? If anything, the teams you're "not expected to beat in the first place" are just as likely to be found in your CC group as in your CA group, no? I'm not knocking the USMNT for the sake of knocking it. I just want to see all participating teams in the Copa try to bring as many of their best players as possible. That said, it's a shame the MLS season is still underway. Still, I would've liked to see the US to field its strongest team for at least one game in this tournament.
What's the best thing about winning the Gold Cup? The prestige or participation in the Confed Cup? If you choose the latter, then how different is the experience one gains in the Confed Cup from that which you get in the Copa America? Please, by all means correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't being invited to the Copa America pretty much the same thing as taking part in the Confederations Cup?
Seriously that you had to think it that way? Do you want to play for fun or to win? Of course winning isn't in your vocab.
Some of the differences between Copa and the Confed Cup: 1. Confed Cup doesn't start 4 days after the Gold Cup. 2. The coaches of 75% of the USMNT players can't say "Um, no!" to call ups for the Confed Cup. 3. The Confed Cup is 12 months before the World Cup, not 36.
For those of us who have co-workers from countries like Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina, Ecuador, etc. it's pretty embarrasing to have to try to explain why we sent such a poor team to the Copa America. And yes, it is poor if only because Twellman, Gomez and Johnson are simply unable to create in the offensive third. Last night we were gifted a penalty kick goal but other than that demonstrated a complete inability to generate offense. Twellman was impotent and impish as usual, careening around the field like a lost child. Johnson's useless attempts to slow down pace and create chances only served to stagnate an already stagnant offense. By inviting us to their tournament, CONMEBOL had recognized an obvious improvement in American soccer. By fielding such an inept squad (at least in terms of offense), we have squandered an opportunity to validate their recognition of our improvement.
i think most people would have liked to see a full strength us squad at the copa. but for a myriad of different reasons, that just couldn't happen. the biggest reason is, the us is a "guest" at this cup, so fifa does NOT require clubs release american players (clubs are required to release conmebol players though.). this goes for both mls and euro clubs (even though euro clubs aren't doing anything at the moment). and as you note, mls is in season (unlike the mexican league). many of the american starters are fighting for starting positions at their euro club. so even if the euro club said it's ok for a player to play, it's really more important long term for a player like say, dempsey to start 30 games for fulham in the prem next season than play in what amounts to a "friendly" tournament for the usa (even one as prestigious as the copa). starting positions are earned in pre-season for guys like dempsey, and pre-season starts right about now. as for copa v. confed, sure the copa is a bigger deal than the confed cup. but the confed cup is 1 year out from the wc. the copa is 3 years out. 3 years out is when you explore and experiment with your lineup. 1 year out is when you should be fine tuning a fairly established starting XI. if we get to the confed cup (by winning the gc) we get at least 3 good games against potentially powerful teams in ostensibly meaningful competition. if we miss out on the confed cup, then all we have to prepare for wc2010 are the wcq games against the same concacaf minnows people are deriding all over the place. what is better prep for the wc? playing concacaf teams? or playing all the confed champs?
What do you mean by C + team?. The current squads can be A- team - They are pretty much are MLS all star team. Anyway, it does not matter if BB brought LD or anybody else, they still could not make out the group. Landon is mart that he did not want to participate in the Copaamerica cup.
It is very different because it will be further along in the cycle and we should, for the most part, know who is going to SA2009. Let me ask you this question: Is it better to take the practice test shortly before the exam so you can find out what you missed in studying or taking it before you have even started studying and without even knowing who will be going to SA2009? Plus, you want to keep a good relationship with the clubs where your players earn a living.
Good answer. I didn't even know that bit about FIFA not requiring the invited countries' players' clubs to release their men for NT duty. I agree, Confed Cup participation is more important than that which you get in the CA due to the timing. (the thing with me is that no matter how much I like my NT's and want them to win, I care much more about the entertainment of the sport. Luckily, Copa America is turning out to be a pretty good tournament)
It's so easy to make claims that aren't testable... Unless of course they do make it out of the group anyway, in which case boy will you look really stupid.