early look at the January Camp selections

no zizzo? man ive seen him left off of so many squads, has he fallen out of favor this much? he raped in canada last year, and that only shows his potential.

 

Historically, winter camps is for MLS players and US players in leagues that have a similar calender as MLS. The other Euro based players usually get called up for shorter summer camps. This isn't really new or too unpredictable, this has been going on for years now.


Before you mentioned it, Olympic qualifiers are not the samething.

 

That's a lot of players!

I would just pick 18-21 players train for a week and go on a short 2 game tour of South America just to change things a bit.

 

If you haven't watched Mike Harrington play for the wiz this season take a look at him. He's extremely dynamic. excellent crosser of the ball. good with the ball. Has great vision and yet he's still as hard as a defender should be when he goes into tackles.

I think bob needs to get this kid up from the u-23s and into the full team for atleast a few matches. If he's not ready then ill eat my words but from the way he's been playing in just his 2nd year he's already an excellent candidate for if not 2010 then 2014 for sure

 

Yeah I don't know why this guy has fallen off the radar so much, just because Nowak didn't like how he played in that one meaningless friendly in China and hasn't been looked at since.

 

Im just saying give him a chance...if someone like edu, bradley (his son), and charlie davies can get looks then this kid difinently needs a look. He even looks like he's physically ready.

 

I think a few players can really improve their chances for the national squad over the rest of the MLS season and if they are called in January. Namely, Colin Clark, Sacha Kljestan, Kyle Beckerman, Kenny Cooper and Robbie Rogers. Possibly Clarence Goodson as well.

I also think Noonan would probably be called in. Possibly Kamani depending on what happens with him.

 

Now, limit yourself to 23-28 players with no one over 30 or in Europe, and you will have saved yourself a lot of time.

 

That's what I'm saying too. I'm also against calling up players that are sure bets for the first team, like Donovan and Conrad. They don't need that caps, they can always train with the team, and we don't need the W either.

 

So the slow and old Conrad is a sure bet for the us team?

OK

I think Subotic would be a more sure bet to take his spot if he ever commits to the US.

Is Klejestan the real deal? or is he too slow.

He looks like either the next Derosario or the next Kyle Martino

 

These "camps" are a f'in joke. All Bradley does is run fringe players into the ground for three weeks then hardly play some of them at all. Wonder how many month long "camps" Spain, Italy, Germany, England or Brazil have ?? Don't bother lookin' it up, the answer is zero. BB is an idiot.

 

For my money, Kljestan is a better player inside (as a CM or CAM) than on the right wing.

Let the right wing be the domain of LD, Dempsey, and Rogers (he can play either side).

 

You know what I mean. He's not a starter but he would make the bench for WCQs, besides what I meant is that if we know player can contribute, or not, what's the poing of calling him up for a meaningless games?? Everytime Donvan or Ching starts those are minutes that could be going to the younger players like Alvarez, Holden etc. This is just one of those things that in any other country it wouldn't have to be talked about.

 

How long have these camps been going on? Before Bradley's time, for sure. Don't blame Bradley.

And so what if the big powers don't do it? We're not at their level yet and we could use all the time together as we can get.

 

The camps were a large part of the success of the US side in WC02. Japan employed a similar tactic, and the consistent playing time together showed on the field; they surprised a lot of people.

The problem now is that we have so many players overseas, we can't get the players into camp to practice together for a long time and learn each other's styles. It's a nice problem to have, though.

 

The USA wasn't THAT successful in 2002, in fact they were a .500 team. The USA snuck up on a Portugal who took them lightly and the only other team they beat was Mexico (no suprise there).

In the rest of the world the clubs carry a lot more clout than the ones in MLS do. These january "camps" are an exercise in futility as they are almost totally made up of MLS players, players who don't get a look in when the euro's are available.

 

Except for Brazil, the top national teams have their entire NT pools playing in fall-to-spring leagues - and Brazilian domestic soccer basically runs all year when you include the state leagues.

On the other hand, MLS is a summer league... and, surprise, surprise, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, and Japan - all of whose domestic leagues are spring-to-fall* - run winter camps using only locally-based players. The point is to keep all the potential NT players who aren't playing in fall-to-spring leagues active through the offseason.

* Denmark is an exception, but the Danish midseason break (in the winter) is actually longer than the break between seasons (in the summer)

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe many of the Brazilian national team play their club football in europe.

The point is for that idiot Bradley to proove he's a hard ass. He runs these players like dogs for three weeks then hardly plays some of them before getting rid of almost all of them when the "real players" show up.

Any MLS player worth the name keeps himself very fit in the off season and surely doesn't need these annual exercises in stupidity that are staged for the glory of the moron that is Bradley.

 

Yes, I'm only pointing out that the few who play in Brazil are effectively in season all year.

The fact remains: we're not the only country that does it; and Norway, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, and Japan are all reasonably strong teams that hold winter camps for their home-based players almost every year. Coaches with far stronger reputations than Bob Bradley seem to think it is necessary for a country whose domestic league plays in the summer...