steve ralston

I think that Ralston's play in MLS has clearly earned him a couple of call-ups this winter. Afterall, he's lead the league in assists twice and plays right flank mid, a position where we need to re-establish depth.

Having said that, when everything shakes out, I doubt Ralston will be one of the players who makes the cut for, say, qualifying. But, he's certainly earned the right to show at the national team level that I'm wrong.

 

I really thought that when Ben Olsen went down years ago that Arena should have given Ralston a shot as a wide right mid. IMO we haven't had a right sided midfielder since Ben went down. Almost all of our flank play on the right has come from outside defenders.

 

Here we go again

Ralston already has about 15 caps and consistently failed to show anything at the national team level. One of the great threads pre-crash defined the Ralston Line the cutoff for Nats consideration.

Sachin

 

i can't remeber who said it, but i remember reading a quote from an MLS midfielder who said that the team knew Ralston doesn't track back. In other words, no defense. You won't make too many national teams without playing Defense.

 

I don't mean to be the Fact Police or anything, but Ralston actually has only 7 caps. Of those, only 4 are starts.

He got 4 caps (3 starts) under Sampson.

Under Arena, he has 3 caps and 1 start. He played 14 minutes off the bench in 99, 8 minutes off the bench in 00 and started and went a half in 00.

So, it's not like he has really gotten a whole hell of a lot of chances to show The Bruce what he can do at the international level.

 

That's surprising. He usually does a pretty good job for us.

 

First a disclaimer- I am a Rev fan. Now that I have that out of the way, let me say " he is a very good player". But part of his excellence is his consistency. He is smart and passes well. But he is rarely dominant.

 

Please don't forget that his "half" in 2000 was in the middle of a Nor'Easter storm and EVERYONE in that game looked terrible.

Ralston not getting a call-in has always been a mystery to me. I do not now nor have I ever agreed with Ursula's famed "Ralston-line." The premise of the thread was excellent, but the subject, if you are going to measure a player by his performance on the field, deserves more of an opportunity to perform than Ralston was ever given under Arena.

What's behind the scenes I do not know. Ralston may not have fit into Arena's plans for a very legitimate reason. But his skill and MLS play alone do not exclude him from a call-up.

 

Bogus. Bogus. BOGUS!!!!!!!!!!

In the last FIVE seasons (1998-2002), Ralston has played a total of 67 minutes!!!!!!!! It's not the number of caps, but the number of minutes. 67 minutes is nothing. He hasn't been given a chance. Period!

Overall, he's been capped 7 times, 4 of them in 1997.

 

That's true, but some looked more terrible than others. The U.S. looked stronger on the right side after Ralston left the game.

 

What exactly is the famed "Ralston line". I don't remember this thread.

 

I was at the game, like 15,000 other insane people. Ralston was fine, neither good nor bad. The game changed entirely when Claudio Reyna came in in the 2nd half.

 

ursula revs up

Hehe! Nutmeg- you are dating youself here!

First, I want to say, that Bruce Arena has had plenty of time to evaluate Ralston. He's seen him in prectices, he's seen him in MLS games. he doesn't have to see him in a bunch of friendlies to further evaluate him. Ralston will probably be called into camp again, but let's not fool ourselves that he's anything like a strong contender for 06.

Ah... The Ralston Line... such memories... here's what it is:

It's a certain standard of excellence that a player must pass in order to be a serious Nats contender that is easiest to use when thinking of MLS players.

Consider the eponymous Steve. As Bruce S says above," " he is a very good player". But part of his excellence is his consistency. He is smart and passes well. But he is rarely dominant." In MLS a player like Steve is always one of the best at his position and routinely is a major contributor to his team. I'd even say that most serious MLS Cup contenders have 2-5 Steve Ralstons on their roster.

But. Steve has not or will ever will be THE MAN on his team and being THE MAN is what separates Nats team regulars from borderline guys... like Steve Ralston here. Again as Bruce S says above, being dominant at your position in MLS is a very very important measuring stick in predicting international success. Just look at the MLS guys who Arena's called up regularly and you see that all of 'em usually (not always) have games and seasons where they just dominated whoever came up against them. Even the controversial guys like Goos or Armas. The main exception to this (for Arena at least though other coaches can differ here) is with young players (Donovan, Beasley, Albright, Convey, Olsen, Mathis, etc). In their case, Arena tries to project what they might become and tries to integrate them early. (Obviously sometimes he's right, sometimes wrong like with Albright and Twellman, but projecting the future of youth players is and will always be a very inexact science. But I digress.)

Ralston is an excellent, excellent player, surely lethal to the opposition if he's forgotten for just a second. But his games while often productive, well, he can come up against certain wingers who, if they are on their game dominate him (just like they can dominate anyone). Olsen used to routinely have Ralston for lunch, for example. I remember games in 99 where Ralston would be lined up against John Maessner, a good journeyman regular to start. Ralston would dominate him. Then sometime in the game, Olsen would move to left wing (not his best side), opposite Steve. The difference was night and day. (Just for the record- Olsen is currently below The Ralston line. we have to wait to see how far back from injury he will come.) Or Beasley's up side is waaaay above Ralston's.

So if you wonder if a given player is really Nats material and he is a winger, let's see how he does against Ralston- if he's better than steve then we have a serious Nats player. If not- well some other time buddy. For example, is Chris Klein better than Steve Ralston? Has he crossed The Line yet?

A final word is that obviously we can find Ralstons- borderline players- at every position. In fact for every Nats regular there should be 2-5 Ralston-quality guys in MLS. When we debate players here on BS it's usually because that player is somewhere near The Ralston Line.

 

Thanks Sandon as I was about to post the same info.

The only start Ralston has had under Arena was the 1 game played in a torrential downpour. Needless to say I don't think you can evaluate anyone in those type of playing conditions.

In my opinion Ralston hasn't had a fair shake at all from Arena.

 

Although the thread was an interesting one it was completely bogus in that Ralston's actual level of playing performance was and is and always has been at a much higher level than the fictional Ralston line!

 

Now THAT'S funny!

 

I am both an Arena fan and a Ralston fan. I believe that Ralston IS good enough to help the USA. But every country has guys who are overlooked. There are only a certain number of slots and Arena makes his decisions. Ralston is more skilled than many of the USA right sided players. About the only knock I can put on him is he isn't a great defender and doesn't have a big physical presence. But his passing is very, very good.

 

Hehe! Nutmeg- you are dating youself here!

I've been dated since Seattle Blues went out of style.

First, I want to say, that Bruce Arena has had plenty of time to evaluate Ralston.
No disagreement here. But the tricky thing with player evaluation in MLS, practices, camps, etc is that sometimes a coach, even Bruce Arena, is flat-out wrong. Case in point - Chris Albright. Bruce Arena evaluated Albright at UVA, at DCU, youth International Squads, and even up close and personal in Nats camps. Through it all, Arena was convinced Albright would be a solid international player - until he actually saw him in a few games.

Recently Bruce admitted that he did not think Twellman would have had the impact he has in MLS. He is still unsure of how his MLS success will translate into the International Game. In roughly his own words, he won't know until Twellman gets a chance on the MNT.

It's a certain standard of excellence that a player must pass in order to be a serious Nats contender that is easiest to use when thinking of MLS players... being THE MAN is what separates Nats team regulars from borderline guys... being dominant at your position in MLS is a very very important measuring stick in predicting international success.

First of all, being THE MAN is very subjective, which is why I think it is hard to put a definitive line on any one player. I bet if Gus Hiddink were the MNT coach, you would have seen a very different group of players for the US in 2002. I only say this because there really isn't any imaginary line that seperates good MLS players from National Team regulars. What seperates these players, in the end, is what a coach wants and expects from his players. For whatever reason, Ralston was not the player that Bruce wanted on the right. If it were a different coach, he very well could have been.


Just look at the MLS guys who Arena's called up regularly and you see that all of 'em usually (not always) have games and seasons where they just dominated whoever came up against them.

Ralston has had those games, especially this past year with the Revs. But I think there is something you are missing. Bruce has repeatedly said that when it comes to selecting players, his underlying criteria is selecting the group of players who give the team the best chance to win. This is key, because that does not mean he goes out and gets the best players. Again, for whatever reason, Bruce in the past has felt that Ralston was not a part of that group. Like you, I highly doubt that he will be in that group this time around, either. But for different reasons.

 

given Arena's results it is dificult to criticize his judgement.. and I won't. But I have little doubt also that another coach would have had Ralston in the team. Perhaps Ralston suffered also because Earnie Stewart has been such a fixture for the US.

 

Ralston is 28 and will turn 32 during the next WC. He is not out of the running.
Something that has not been discussed is his improvement. He has always been good but I believe he has really moved from good into elite status.I am quite sure that he is much better than he was when he got his caps.

 

Ursula, so your thinking is that every MLS team has between two and five players on it who are as good as Steve Ralston is?

Considering he led the league in assists, and is about to be named to the league's Best XI -- again, I think that's pretty tough to back up.