I'll probably get carded, but oh well. The man has done everything asked of him, and then some. We won Group C.
i'll take my medicine. I'm amazed. he earned his stripes last year in the CC, but even then I didn't think he had this in him. the 2nd half adjustments against slovenia were huge. and the handling of tactics/man management in the Algeria game were very good. Bradley has far exceeded my expectations. all the while dealing with the handicap of our central defenders being pretty poor.
Kudos to Bob for winning Group C. Objectively speaking, he has shown positives and negatives in this WC. His plan to contain Rooney was excellent and he's shown amazing tactical flexibility to unleash the attack against Slovenia and Algeria. He made moves to remove pieces that weren't working and put in better pieces. He's played 19 of the 23 players on the roster- showing a good ability to use our depth. On the other hand, the US continue to give up early goals and goal-scoring opportunities. This is on the coach-- note how Gooch stepping up to cover Rooney (Gooch moved late b/c it was clearly against his instinct) led to England's goal. So, you take the good with the bad and, so far, the good has overwhelmed the bad. That said, I hope that Bob becomes a trailblazer for US coaches in Europe after this World Cup. He's ready for a new challenge and I think the national team benefits from new thoughts and ideas every four years.
I think this was on Gooch, not Bradley. Bradley didn't feel comfortable sliding Boca to the center against England, and putting Bornstein out wide. He pretty much had to today (according to Chinaglia on XM236, it was because of Onyewu's fitness and performance the last two games). Of course, I've always been a Bradley "apologist" rolleyes, so take that with a grain of salt.
Demerit has been playing well most of the games. The problem is "most" of the game for his critical position. Every so often he allows a chance due to something, whether it be lack of speed, poor touch, poor pass.
I've always been in the middle on Bradley; always thought he had gotten reasonable results given our situation but sometimes questioning if we couldn't do better or questioning his choices. But I think you have to say now that Bob has done well at every stage of his tenure. I understand wanting a fresh pair of eyes every four years and if that's what USSF wants to do I would completely understand; eight years terms are odd in international soccer. But if a "re-up" is on the table for Bob, he's certainly earned it.
I think he was being ironic. The last 3 years have been nothing but oodles and oodles of complaints against Bradley, from the astute observations about his subbing to the mildly idiotic diatribe about him not smiling enough. Right now everyone can pretty much shut up and thank the guy for guiding the US to their most successful group play since 1950.
As a Fire fan, I want to post in the official Fire-Bob Bradley thread, where we remember the team where he got his professional start. And as someone pointed out, he had former Fire Lubos Kubic with him as an assistant today. Fire, Fire, Fire-Bob Bra-ad-ley, la-la-lah-la, la-la-lah-la, la-la-lah-lah-lah-lah-lah!!!!
Let's count all of the things he's done right this cycle: -Look at alot of different players -Be willing to give inexperienced players chances. This goes back even to Holden and Davies last summer. -Be willing to give internationally inexperienced but in-form players spots over players that were more experienced but not in form (Our current strikers over Ching and Casey) -Get a core group of guys to gel (Bradley, Demerit, Bocanegra, Howard, Donovan, Dempsey, Altidore) -Make very positive tactical decisions when everything was on the line (going 3-4-3 with Edu, scoring a goal, then putting Edu on the backline... yup, this is Bradley we're talking about) -Adjust his tactics to personnel -Go with a very internationally inexperienced player instead of a very experienced one (Edu instead of Clark) in a very tight spot (halftime of the Slovenia game). -Improve his substitution pattern throughout the cycle. -Find adequate replacements for injured or recovering players (Davies, Onyewu). -Keep guys in the fold even after horrible errors, allowing them to contribute in crucial situations (Beasley in particular... who else thought the error against Brazil in the CC was the death of his USMNT career for this cycle?... Bornstein as well) And his accomplishments: -The crucial 2007 Gold Cup victory -Runner-up at the Confed Cup -Breaking Spain's winning streak -Winning the CONCACAF qualifying group -Retaining our sterling record against Mexico this decade -Winning our group in the World Cup That is a very impressive list of accomplishments.
I have been brutal in my contempt and criticism for him. I will give him full credit for making the hard choices in this tournament. Regardless of what happens now I have to admit Bob Bradley has earned my respect and admiration. Going with Edu, dropping a useless Onyewu, and daring to play real football by inserting Feilhaber was inspiring to me.
I think more gloating is necessary, because quite frankly, an entire horde of US fans have bashed Bradley for 3 years. You were all wrong. DEAD Wrong. You should all eat crow. Especially mr. soccer knowledge sidefootsitter. I really want to start and official eat crow thread, but I'm just too happy. and DAMN it feels good to be vindicated.
I thought the fashion complaints about Bradley's sideline apparel rivaled the not smiling diatribe in silliness. For whatever he may (or may not) lack in game situation coaching or tactics he makes up for in player management. What other coach can instill this sort of belief and fight and sense of team in the entire group (plus the guys not on the final 23 that helped the team get here).
So if we crash out in the round of 16 this would be more or less successful than 2002? How about the fact we had a very weak group to begin with and still struggled mightily to get through? We didn't exactly look good against the only "good" team in our group, in fact we were very fortunate to draw. ( thanks Greene) Didn't Donovan say if we can't beat Slovenia and Algeria we don't belong in the WC? We haven't beat a good team yet, right? Is Ghana considered a good team? I think they are so the next test will be big but I think if they can beat Uruguay it would be huge and I would turn in my Bob Bradley hater card. (can't believe I typed that). Uruguay is very good this WC cycle.
I think we have to wait till after the WC before we eat crow, the US has already done better than this against better competition in the past (2002). We made a quarter final run. Lets see what happens first.
If we take into account refereeing decisions, we performed VERY well. And anyways we won the group. This was not an easy group. We are the only team to have beaten Algeria. Slovenia was clearly no pushover. In a World Cup, teams tend to just lock things down in the back... and yet we still scored goals when it was absolutely necessary. You've got to be a true cynic not to recognize what the Yanks have accomplished here.
Hey,where'd the goalposts go? Bring them back here RIGHT NOW,young man!!!! He's in the 16.Deal with it haters.
A couple weeks ago someone put up a "who will be our Sanneh?" thread, and my first guess was Cherundolo (based on the form that started to emerge during the friendlies). I agree, he's generally been a good-but-not-great RB when healthy through most of his career. I think he's held down a starting job in the Bundesliga longer than American player ever (I could be mistaken, but I don't think so), which says something to relatively good quality of his career. But he's playing fantastic right now. He had an outstanding game today and hasn't had a bad one thus far this WC.
Good call, Marko. Didn't see that one coming; I agree that Dolo is in the best form of his USMNT career. Edu is another candidate for the Tony Sanneh award.
The goalposts before the WC, do you really want me to drag them up? Mostly everyone was saying this is the easiest draw we've ever had and if we don't take advantage of it, it would be tragic. to other ones like, If we don't advance out of this group it will be scene as a complete failure. We basically had the same reaction England had, we were damn lucky to draw Slovenia and Algeria because they are not power house teams in the slightest. We did what was expected right or am I wrong here? It just took a little extra drama to get here. Was this the group of death, did I miss something?
Just to remind people, Blustar is not a US fan. He is on the record saying that he hoped the US got blown out all 3 games in group play. So before you respond to him, think about that first
Bob's choices (both his XI and his subs today) were anything BUT gutless. Personally I thought pulling off Edu for another striker was a gamble that he didn't have to make, but it paid off. I wasn't wild about giving Herc the start and bringing on Buddle (I would've done it the other way around, particularly since the end of the game was crying for finishers, which wasn't an unexpected scenario before the game, and Herc would certainly be my first choice for "in form finisher" apart from Donovan.) In other words, I've got quibbles with Bob, today as always. But how can one deny the job he's done thus far? This Cup, and this cycle? For me, the turning point for him was the Confed Cup. He really seemed to learn as much about managing the top-level international game as much as his youngish squad. This tournament he's had difficult decisions to make, and he's made them. (Just today he passed over our most talented--but struggling--player on the back line for BORNSTEIN. And it WORKED! We kept the clean sheet for the first time in the WC since Mexico in 2002.) He's an intelligent, hard-working guy who instills a gutsy mentality in our guys, and they as a team all have a lot of respect for him and each other. There are a LOT of more well-pedigreed coaches that I would turn down in favor of Bob.
Yeah, I was really worried when Edu and Gomez were pulled... and of course we ended up getting less possession, playing for the quick counterstrike. I liked the decision to start Gomez mostly, as he really helps loosen things up in the final third. We got plenty of opportunities with him in there, just didn't finish. Which says to me that Bradley did an excellent job. Our lack of finishing is certainly not his fault.