Currently, I think you are 100% correct. There may be a slight change by the time we actually play a meaningful game.
14 pages of lineups and not one MB90 to be found. Worthy of a toast. Debating which talented 20 something is playing here/there considerably more preferable to projecting lineups to minimize effect of too many slow 30 somethings.
Did anyone ever really think that a 35 year old Michael Bradley was ever going to be on a roster for Qatar?
No. Just to remind people of our problems at the #6 position. With Adams unavailable, our two #6s at this Wales friendly are: Owen Otasowie, who's played 1 professional first team game. And Johnny Cardoso, a total question mark from Brazil. And its not like its a strong position in MLS either. We've got some youngsters on the move (Tessmann and Busio for instance)......................but we're pretty lacking in terms of players "in their prime."
He's looking good in league play for sure. Seen a few minutes of Cardoso too and we're in good hands. Adams has got competition.
I did. And without COVID and his injuries, he would likely still be in the mix. He's had 10 caps since 2017, when there was absolutely no reason to have 1. Assume he's done, but there's some sort of corruption with him in USSF (no clue what, never bought into the nepotism argument really, but there's something). I don't think we've seen the last of him.
Huh. Well, you do you. Bradley in 2017 was not peak Bradley, but he was still very effective at an MLS Level and in CCL. He wasn't that bad for the national team, either, even if he shouldn't have been played as a lone 6. But he was a top player in MLS in 2017 -- even if he played too many minutes -- and he's nowhere near that now. Age and injuries were always going to happen. He was never going to make four years at any level.
Assuming that we actually do qualify, I predict that Berhalter's roster will anger and disappoint 87.95% of BigSoccer posters.
I honestly doubt it. He's been pretty open about certain players being too old, and only certain positions, like GK and CB being able to perform at that age. Bradley is a bit of a political minefield with USSF in general. Berhalter was honest once about a player getting sent home -- Kellyn Acosta -- and he's shut up and played the vague game sense. Which is smart with any player -- no one wants to have their deficiencies laid out in public in a direct manner. But with Bradley you have to deal with Michael, and Bob, and all their allies at USSF, and they are loud and aggressive as Jimmy Conrad will tell you. I expect him to get a goodbye game, but I will honestly be shocked to see him play meaningful minutes going forward. Perhaps I am too optimistic about Berhalter. But while I think he likes Bradley's skillset, I think he knows it's over for him.
As recently as a few days ago he on video said he wished he had his full team there and included Bradley, Jozy, Jackson and a few others. Idk if it’s just talk but he wasn’t forced to say his name there. That’s 100% on him and makes him look very bad. Bradley shouldn’t be anywhere close to this program as a player. EDIT:
Yes, but there are some real holes in that lineup. Josh is so very young (still) for that position and Chris is REALLY young for a starting CB at a WCF. That team is basically a medal round contending Olympic team right now (which is good- talented, and very young). We will see.
When I tend to look at players' ratings I mostly look at current performance, for instance, Is the player waiting to be served only. Can he play with his back to goal, he is easily outmuscled from the ball, Does he helps the mids winning the ball, how difficult of a shot is he scoring. Putting too much emphasis on stats over 6 months old doesn't give you a true picture of how the player is currently doing. I think Sargent is the best we have right now. I take into consideration how bad of a team he has, yet he is all over the field trying to get something going. I never rated Jozy as high, his scoring against minnows hid his deficiencies of his game, To me, the most telling sign is his offense is so "vanilla" that any top defender would cancel him out with no problem. You would never say of his scoring, wow, that was a tough shot he made. Sure he did have other qualities like good hold-up play and very good direct kick taker. You just need that something special to separate him from top defenders to score. That is why he always had a hard time scoring against top teams in games that matter.
Got to love ESPN putting Bradley in the 23 for the World Cup. https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-...adams-and-mckennie-at-world-cup-2022-in-qatar
Hahah fair enough. I don’t. But I do go there to get a pulse for general media thinking. I honestly suspect several others would have him included. Gregg included based on his comments prior to this game. There’s always a spot for an old head on the 23 but Bradley shouldn’t be it.
Agree. I think I gave up on ESPN about 15-20 years ago when they did this massive SportsCenter segment "Who's Next" where pundits argued who was "Next." There was no definition, just people arguing that Alex Rodriguez was more "Next" than Roger Federer. It was stunningly dumb, and there hasn't been an intelligent piece of analysis not during a live sporting event on ESPN or ESPN.com since (with the exception of Grantland and its alumni). I've defended Bradley in prior cycles; I think a lot of the hate is unjustified. But it was clear from the day after Trinidad he was not going to be good enough for this cycle as he aged, and his leadership style is not actually one, like it or not, that necessarily seems to adapt to the more mentor-style we need with the emerging youth. They don't need veteran leadership to lead; they needed and need veteran leadership to teach them how to lead themselves. The good news is that he is clearly done in MLS right now. And while I'm sure we're going to see him again, I really can't see his legs making it two years. He'll be long benched and possibly retired by December of 2022 unless something magical happens to his legs.
ESPN is like those out of touch fans that come back to BS years later and ramble off names from years past as being currently in form.
You just said above, "did anyone ever think Bradley will be on the wc roster", rhetorically it seemed. And lo and behold, a day later, yes - members of the media think he will be. Espn, egg saying he's not done, stu/lalas saying he's still in the mix. Now it turns to "well he's still in the mix, but won't be by 2022". Where does this end!? I've just heard this basically since 2017. Everyone here saying "he's done, we all know that, stop being ridiculous". Then he gets called up again, plays horribly, and the song and dance continues. I realize you're not defending him, but something is up, and has been for years. The fact the media is still mentioning him despite being abjectly awful in MLS means something.
You are right that some random ESPN writer thinks he will be in the roster. As far as I can tell, Stu and Lalas weren't talking about 2022, they were talking about today. They are still wrong about that, but my comment was about a Qatar roster. In my defense, I was talking about people on this board, not the generic ESPN beat writers who don't do research. We will see. I just saw Bradley this year. He's losing his spot with Toronto -- you even have the tell tale sign of MLS writers and Toronto FC guys laying hints. How is he going to make it to 2022?
When you think you’re smarter and better than everyone it isn’t hard to come up with justifications in how you’re right and everyone else just doesn’t see it. It’s then helped by the fact that media are ex players and friends of the player in question.
Like I said, I realize you don't care, and would rather see him put out to pasture, like most of us. But you've already said he shouldn't have been seen again after 2017. Yet here we are, 3 years later, and he's still being mentioned as an option by the media and the US manager. So saying "nobody is talking about it", even if you meant BS posters only, is sorta useless, since the voices that matter more than us (media/the coach) are saying it. Dumping on ESPN's coverage is easy, but it's still a big voice. SBI has relatively recently said the same, and he's clued in to USSF. If Lalas/Holden (US Soccer schills) are saying it, then what? He's still firmly in the 23, when qualifying is about to start, but what's the plan then? If they are being given hints, and Egg is saying it himself, what is the plan? He'll just be brought in for another year, during qualifying, but have zero chance at the WC because they'll dump him before then? TL/DR - If he's being talked about as an option now, when it's time to "get serious" in preparation for qualifying, he will likely be an option for the WC. You might disagree, but it's semantics. If you're part of the team in qualifying, you have a decent chance of being part of the team for the WC. Which is insane in his case. One of the posters here, one of the bigger MB defenders, even said if he's called up again, even he would join the chorus of us calling out corruption, or caps record, or whatever. But now the thinking is (at least by your words), that we'll definitely see him again and that he's going to be capped more, just not in 2022. This is wild stuff.