Arena seemed to become less diligent about bringing in new players in his second term. If these stories about Agudelo and Mix are true, it would be an encouraging indication that Bradley is avoiding that mistake.
This is a combination of Google Translate and the little bit of Norwegian I have picked up (the more interesting bits, at least):
My shitty translation: «Mix» tatt ut på USAs A-landslag "Mix" called up to the US national team (VG Nett) Stabæks Mikkel Diskerud (20) reiser til Sør-Afrika fredag for å slutte seg til det amerikanske A-landslaget i fotball. Stabaek's Mikkel Diskerud (20) will travel to South Africa Friday to join the American national team in soccer. - Ja, det stemmer at jeg er tatt ut, sier Mikkel Diskerud til VG Nett. "Yes, I've been called up," says Diskerud to VG Nett. Mikkel Diskerud har amerikansk mor og norsk far, og har derfor spilt med flagget på brystet for både Norge og USA på ungdomsnivå. Diskerud has an American mother and Norwegian father and has therefore played for both Norway and the USA at the youth level. - Veldig morsomt Very exciting/fun Nå er han imidlertid tatt ut i A-landslagstroppen til verdens tredje største land. Til tross for at han ikke har spilt for USA siden U20-VM i 2009. Now, however, he has been called up to the national team of the world's third biggest country, in spite of the fact that he hasn't played for the US since the U20 World Championships in 2009. USA møter Sør-Afrika i «Nelson Mandela Challenge» 17. november. The US meets South Africa in the "Nelson Mandela Challenge" on the 17th of November. - Vi fikk beskjed i dag om at han ble tatt ut i en fortropp, og reiser til Sør-Afrika for å slutte seg til laget på fredag. Det er veldig morsomt for ham, sier Jan Jönsson til VG Nett. "We got a letter today that he has been called up to the team and, on friday, he will travel to South Africa to join the team. It's very exciting for him," says Jan Jonsson to VG Nett. USA for moren skyld The US for mom's sake Mikkel Diskerud har tidligere sagt til VG at han ville velge USA framfor Norge på grunn av moren, Susan Hagerty. Diskerud told VG earlier that he wanted to choose the US ahead of Norway because of his mother, Susan Hagerty. - Dette betyr mye for moren min. Jeg skylder henne det. Jeg vil spille for USA så lenge de vil ha meg, sa Stabæk-spilleren til VG i 2009. "This means a lot for my mom. I indebted (?) to her. I want to play for the USA as long as they will have me," said the Stabaek player to VG in 2009. Han markerte seg i den amerikanske trøya for alvor da han ble tatt ut til USAs U20-mannskap i forkant av VM i 2009. I en kamp mot Egypt spilte han 90 minutter, ble matchvinner og kåret til kampens beste spiller. He made a notable appearance in the US shirt when he was called up to the US U20 team at the 2009 World Championships. In one match against Egypt, he played 90 minutes, scored the match winner, and was named the man of the match. - Den amerikanske delen av familien min fikk tårer i øynene da de hørte om kampen, fortalte han da til VG. "The American part of my family had tears in their eyes when they heard about the match," he told VG.
"yaaah. Mikkel Diskerud, USA, South Africa, you betcha don't ya know. lutefisk and torsk, ooofta. tony blair"
This will be an interesting game. US Supporters should not be surprised if the US Team looks out of sync. These players do not have a lot of time to gel together as a team, so I would hope people temper their expectations with that in mind.
Agreed, Bradley has been very consistent about bringing in new, young players...I think even his critics can admit to this. I see this upcoming friendly as this WC cycle's "Copa America," where Bob conducts important experiments (albeit to the chagrin of some fans).
Yes. My point is that so was Bruce in the first term. I'm glad Bradley is avoiding the change that we saw in Bruce in the second term.
Threadjack for a second, but if the 'new talent' that Bruce failed to bring on in that second term was so thick, we would have seen a lot more of it present in Bradley's first couple of years. Really, beside Gooch and Dempsey, there wasn't a whole lot of 'world class' coming out of the players in that current 28-30 age range. Le's face it, there wasn't a whole lot of talent behind the '02 WC group at least when compared to the options that Bradley has had for the last 2 years. A couple extra caps weren't going to alter the course of Chris Rolfe or Brian Carroll's international career.
That's a fair point. In retrospect, the amount of new talent coming in during Arena's second term has not turned out to be that impressive. But I think even accounting for that the criticism is still a valid one.
this is AWESOME if true. Bringing in Smith and Ream too, thats three of our brightest new stars. we're doing it RIGHT.
I'm excited to (hopefully) see Mix play this match. I think he's going to be a serious contender for a 2014 roster spot. Also, I think he fits the profile of the typical CM that BB likes to convert to LM or RM. That should please the fans...
He's played pretty much everywhere for Stabaek this season outside of GK, but his usual position (especially for the last half of the season) has been at RM.
This is an encouraging sign, if true. I don't think Agudelo is ready yet, but this is a throw away match anyway. I think Mix and Smith are more experienced and readier for this level, and it is nice to get them into the mix to try to ensure they don't play for another association.
Actually, there was one point this season where Stabaek had no defenders on the bench, and one of the back 4 got injured during the match. Mix ended up filling in at RB for the majority of the match, so I guess it's not outside the realm of possibility
Yep. If all this is true, I officially tender my resignation as the president of the "Ugh, four more years of Bob Bradley" club.
That's the way I see him too. I see his biggest competition for playing time in the long run being somebody like Benny Feilhaber.