I believe politics definatly plays a part in the NT decision. Borsnstein is Bradley's boy..I do believe he drafted him out of college. IMO especially as a back Bornstein makes to many mistakes and has too many giveaway passes! I see Pearce and Spector as more solid defenders...Both Born and Pearce have speed over Spector..Spector and Pearce will have (possibly) 35 or so higher quality games played this year over Born.
bradley has seen pearce in camp and in scrimmages with bornstein when he is deciding his team for tournament play, and he consistently picks bornstein. i don't think that bradley will pick bornstein when he thinks that pearce is a better player and will help him win games. a different coach may make a different decision - it happens all the time. but for bradley, bornstein is the better player when he looks at them playing against each other in training.
I would say he played very well as a left back, winning more than his share of "Zweikampfen" vs. both Schweini and Lahm. In fact, he did so well, Bayern switched its focus of attack away, more to its own left/Hansa's right, because the going there was much easier with Marcel Jansen and Ze Roberto against their markers. Pearce was playing very well as an individual defender - e.g, winning or tying his one-on-one battles - and he was playing a very good team defense, knowing when to pick up an important overlap by Lahm or when to stick to the inside attacker, depending upon the available help from another Hansa defender. Now, I felt that he was often lost as a midfielder, drifting into the "useless space", marking no one and allowing either Lahm, Altintop or van Bommel make runs behind him. But, to me, this just shows his inexperience playing at an unfamiliar position with barely familiar teammates. If I were to rate his play for each half separately, I'd have given him a "3" as a left back and a "5" as a midfielder (where he's no Marcel Jansen). However, I do understand Frank Pagelsdorf's intention of getting someone with Heath's pace a chance to jump into the attack from the more advanced position. I just didn't think that positional switch worked well, as Pearce is not of a Bayern fullback quality with the ball at his feet and taking on a defender. At his normal position though, I rate HP quite highly.
What do you mean? Pearce right now is a so-so player at best on the international level. He will get more chances with the USMNT (remember all the people that whined when he wasn't selected for the Gold Cup and then he was at Copa America?) and it is possible that when that happens he will work his way up the the depth chart. My argument is that the guys higher up on the USMNT depth chart are those that play better for the USMNT -- IMHO Bornstein as opposed to Pearce. Who said Pearce won't or shouldn't get another chance with the USMNT. He probably will and should. This time, Bradely chose to bring in Spector as his backup left back, a move that in my opinion is fully justified by the performances of both players. What information? "Reports" are a dime a dozen. Kicker ratings are a joke. Call it anything you like, but I believe that players should be judged on performance, not their resume. Pearce is a prospect but so are a lot of others. Getting Bornstein more experience is obviously Bradley's priority and I agree.
Getting Bornstein more experience is Bradley's priority (That's obvious) He's selecting and giving more time over two more consistant left backs! He obviously see's more potential in Bornstein because he drafted him and coached him..He's familiar.... Do you develope potential on the NT squad over players who are playing internationally against players they will face in WC action in their domestic league play ? Given the relatively small differences in ability between the three..I'd go with the EPL and Bundasliga players over the MLS player..Especially since I believe Bornstein is a natural mid..rather than back. That's just my O
Heath gets a "3.5", tied for the 2nd-3rd best on the squad with an ex-German international and Rostock's captain Stefan Beinlich (the goal scorer Orestes led with a "3"). Presuming that most of the time Pearce was marking Nürnberg's Slovakian international Robert Vittek, this is even more impressive, as Vittek only got a "4.5" as a right forward in Norbert Maier's 4-3-3. Vittek had his best season in 2005-06 with 16 goals.
Happens to the best of them. Amazing how folks around here get so silent when the mention comes up. He wouldn't be the first rags to riches story.
can someone explain these crazy German rankings please? Each position has a different scale? I'm not quite as down on Bornstein as say, the constant negativity SFS throws at US players, but I do feel Bradley has an axe to grind with Pearce. Pearce has done very well with his pro-career, and until Bornstein earns himself a nice European move I'll continue to believe that the only reason Bornstein is continually starting is his outstanding pace and Bradley's love for him (he drafted him and whatnot). Pearce has earned a few starts. One has to factor club play in NT call-ups. If Twellman starts a few games, Pearce should, point blank period. One positive from this, we used to have to debate upon which player would play out of position at LB, now we have 2 legimiate left-footed FBs and Spector. Not bad at all.
Kicker rating is on a "1-to-6" scale, with "1" being best/world class and with "6" being scheisse. It's called realism compared to cheerleading. Now, had I been saying that Freddy Adu wasn't worth much but he went for $10M and signed a $3M/Y salary, then I'd be "negative". But since I hit it on the nose, I was merely being a realist while the majority of the Big Soccer got their pom-poms. As to Pearce vs. Bonstein, it's pretty clear at this time that Jonathan is a very tactically naive player compared to a guy who had grinded it out for a couple of years in the ... (cough) ... most sophisticated league in the world. But we'll see how Johnny matches up with Christian Wilhemsson, if Lars chooses to field the Bolton winger.
he matched up pretty well vs messi. btw, i'm one of those who, when i've seen pearce play for the usmnt, haven't seen anything to recommend him ahead of bornstein. so, i agree with bradley playing bornstein for now. if pearce, when given his chances plays better than bornstein, i'll back pearce. more importantly, as i've stated before, i don't see these players matched up against each other in training, the coach does. and for now he sees bornstein as the better left back in his system. pearce will get called up again, and with the exposure he's getting weekly, he may pass bornstein. may. not every euro player is better than his mls counterpart.
You did not notice the fact that the Argies moved Messi to the other side to get him away from Bornstein , after Bornstein had totally shut Messi down?
I have to say that I like Bornstein's game, and Spector's too, and I've never seen much of Pierce's game, so I've got nothing to excite me about him. But it's hard for me to fathom not calling in Pierce for a match in Sweden. Even if he's rubbed Bradley the wrong way, someone needs to get over something. The guy is starting in the Bundesliga. That at least merits a look in a friendly game based in Europe at this point in the cycle.
That was some good first-half defense, for sure. Messi was very, very quiet. I can't recall (possibly because the Copa is just a black spot in my memory...), but who did he mark in the 2nd half and how did he do once the Argies took it up a notch? Not that I'm trying to knock him or anything.
Actually, Messi had a couple of shots in the first half and Bornstein - as the rest of the US defense - benefited from a very bewildering Argentine line-up thrown together by Alfio Basile. That gave the US the ability to play a very stacked defense, which gave Messi very little room to operate. But once El Coco made the Aimar-for-Cambiasso sub, the US got overrun. BTW, arguably Bornstein was late on the Riquelme's lob over the wall on the first goal that allowed Heinze to poke it before Keller; he is also giving Veron an open shot that Keller tips onto the crossbar; he then loses Crespo on the second goal and Tevez on the fourth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCnkSXJnkCQ&mode=related&search= Other than that, the guy was phenomenal.
What the...... He was pretty much matched up with Messi 1 on 1 out on the wing and Messi didn't do anything. Say what you will about him overall but he was outstanding in the 1st half, so much so that Messi was switched to the other side to start the 2nd half. Those are some really lame excuses. I'm not a Bornstein fan but you have to give him his credit. I was really freaked out at how isolated he was with Messi at times but he came through that entire half.
ESPN's match tracker didn't record Messi with a single shot in the first half. He had one in the second half that was off target, but that was not on Bornetein's side.
OK, he's fast. But he can't hit the properly weighted ball and he loses his marker in the worst of moments. As to stopping Messi, Lionel tried to beat him for speed and didn't succeed. But when he pinched inside, Bornstein lost his man, which is why you see him half-assing it on the Veron bomb. He was also late on that Riquelme free-kick lob. But, even assuming that he was a solid man-marker, it's indisputable that he fell asleep in the second half and was directly responsible for two Argentine goals. So the guy deserves scorn but no credit. A defender who drops his guard on two goals per game is below the Jeff Agoos line and unfit for the National team duty.
My feeling is that both players (Pearce and Bornstein) are fast. Bornstein has more technical flair, but is tactically naive. Pearce is steady, but does nothing of great note except be steady. I feel that Bornstein has more upside, but his lapses are a liability. It's a toss-up, really, but I think I'd rather have Bornstein out there when it mattered, as he has more magic, but as he got tired, I'd replace him with Pearce.
I'll take steady over moments of magic in a defender any day. In the Midfield maybe I'll sacrifice some consistancy for a little magic. At Forward, well forwards are judged almost entirely on their moments of magic. A forward can disappear for an entire game but if he pops up just long enough for a goal or two it's a successful showing. But in a defender, even a wing back, I'll take steady. Job 1: Defend your goal. Job 2: Support the attack. PS. I haven't seen this magic in his USMNT appearances. Unless you're talking about the goal against Denmark. (It was Denmark, right?) But every ounce of magic on that play was provided by Mapp. He has had a couple nice strikes in MLS play though.
No he doesn't. He relies on people not having the time or the resources to drag up months old tapes to disprove him -- and even when you do, he will just ignore it. All you need to know is "Europe good, MLS bad" when reading sfs's posts. Anyway, I have no problem with anyone whose opinion is that Pearce has played well for the USMNT and Bornstein hasn't. It's not my opinion, but this is the wrong forum to discuss USMNT play.
Didn't think of it that way. Why isn't Pearce on the roster if it seems Bradley is serving up Euros for this friendly? I think it sends a clear message to Pearce and probably not a good one. If Pearce does well in his league and we see less of him, I'd be on the train that Pearce isn't getting a fair shake even though I've kind of leaned that way already. I hope I get to catch some games from him on the dish, but who knows.
It is puzzling, but we should wait and see for the Catalonia and Swizerland games. If he doesn't get the call for those ones then it's time to worry.
I think your conclusion is correct -- seems like good opportunity to bring in Pearce (it's awfully close from Gothenberg to Rostock) and, since BB didn't, BB must not particularly like Pearce. But we aren't Brazil and we need left backs. If Pearce progresses in Bundesliga (esp. if Spector continues to play right, Boca central and the US program ignores Burciaga), then Pearce will get more sniffs. Bornstein will get hurt or screw up at some point. Or Pearce will get moved to a bigger more secure club (the Schalkes or Bremens of the world) and be impossible to ignore.
If Heath Pearce keeps playing well in the Bundesliga, all these questions on why Bradley insists on giving almost every chance to Bornstein over Pearce will answer themselves.