This roster seems to have most people replacing general complaints of talent and ability, with a yearning for young exciting in form American players. Somewhere out there I've posted this already….. Josh Wollf is not young and may not be as exciting but he does bring an interesting anticipation factor. Here's hoping all the time in Europe has raised his technical level on par with all the speed and quickness. How dangerous would that be? He is in his prime years and if it all works out, what a cool re-discovery that would be. There is something to be said about having US players in Europe. I swear, I think I a see a difference in Dempsey already….
So what other forwards should we call in instead of Wolff ? Altidore ? he just sat out his last game for the Red Bulls because of injury. Who else is there to look at in the forward position that has shown he is capable of national team play, and hasnt already been given a look ? Mastroeni is getting close to past his prime, if not already past it. But what other center mids ? Rico Clark is needed very badly by an injury ridden houston. So who else? Brian Carroll ? Kyle beckerman ? Danny Szetela ( yes he was just signed by a european team after a good u 20 showing but he has been nothing short of a flop for Columbus)? Arnaud is in because KC does not have a game that weekend, and he has been having a great season in KC. Conrad was not called in most likely because of the last tough few weeks in KC, where he has been taking several knocks. Zizzo, Hill and Nguyen are all on the second team with the respective clubs, and would have to fly half way across the world for this match. yes they dont have much else to do, but they will still be available for our two european friendlies in october. We complain on here about not calling in new players, but Bob has already looked at over fifty players so far this year, and there are very few left that have deserved a call up. I think its a good squad for this match. It should be a lot of fun.
Michael Bradley again?? gotta be shitting me. He's not even the best player in the U20 squad and he's getting so much playing time in the Nats. I'm afraid he will go full 90 against Brazil. Hey Bob, give Jozy, Adu, Ricardo or Kljestan and other more talented players a chance.
btw, for everyone who keeps clamoring that jozy altidore should have been called up for the brazil game, he will not even be playing in his club game that day (against chivas usa) due to the injury that kept him out last week: http://bigapplesoccer.com/article.php?article_id=11203 so please, no more 'where's jozy?' comments. the 'where's rico' comments, however, may continue
Why all the hate for M Bradley? He had a very creditable U20 tournament and did pretty well for the senior side in the Gold Cup. He also has established himself with Herrenveen (sp?) after basically taking a big risk going overseas, which says a lot about his character. Part of B Bradley's job is grooming future leaders - something Bruce didn't really do - and maybe he sees the something in his son that other players of his generation don't have yet. Why not test his mettle in a prestige friendly? Also, EJ will start. He's the leading goalscorer in MLS. He's good, probably the best we have that position. Altidore will get his chance. What's the rush there? Donovan didn't get his senior debut this early in the cycle and he had already accomplished more than Jozy at the same stage.
I agree completely about the Michael Bradley hate. Here's a kid who's starting for Herenveen in the Eredevisie, and he's only 20. Feilhaber has done jack in his club career. Jack. Virtually nothing, but sit on the bench in Germany. And because he scored a great goal against Mexico, people don't question his inclusion. Feilhaber hasn't played a club game since the Copa America, and in fact sat out Derby's last game due to an ankle injury. And yet we get this Michael Bradley hate, BS again. All of this boils down to the fact that the nepotism argument is so easy to make. Michael Bradley would be called up regardless of who was the coach right now. Now I like our other young midfielders like Szetela, Ricardo Clark, Stuart Holden, etc., but to question Michael's inclusion means you haven't been watching his club games. He's been really, really good. This lineup highlights a problem the USMNT is having right now. First, MLS plays matches on FIFA dates. That has to change. It really does restrict who Bob can call up to the national team. While Houston is fighting for playoff position, I'm sure their fans would love Bob to take Clark, Ching, and Holden away for a friendly. I'm sure Galaxy fans are thrilled that Donovan has to be gone this weekend. So MLS has to fix this now. If you guys watched Fox Fone-In last night you'd have heard Lalas say if the Galaxy were to make MLS Cup (Ha), Beckham would miss the game if called up for the England squad. Why? It's a FIFA date. It's perfectly clear then that the European-based players have an advantage over MLS-based players when it comes to getting a call up. If you're Stuart Holden, how many chances do you think you're going to get to show Bradley that you can help in WCQ? Now Bob can call in whomever he likes, and on a FIFA date the club coaches can't stop him. But for a friendly, is Bob really going to push it? He'd probably make an inquiry to the club, and if the club says they'd prefer the player wasn't released, then he'd probably forget it.
Nice perspective. So, the 4-4-2 would look like: Howard Dolo-Gooch-Boca-Pearce or Spector Dempsey-Bradley-Feilhaber-Beasley Johnson-Donovan
(all the memories going round n round)…..not to go off topic but would this be the same Olympic team that had Beasley, Convey and Donovan that was oust by Mexico? If it is, and Burciaga was a defender on that team that would really make me, mad?
By the way, if the USMNT coach was not playing a 19-20 year old who was starting in one of the top 10 leagues in the world alot, that would be a cause for complaint. Three years before the World Cup begins, any 19 year old who is starting regularly in a 2nd level European league and who has performed decently for the full USMNT should be getting a lot of playing time with the USMNT.
Really, what is the point of a post like this? Do you think people around here don't realize that Brazil has better players than the US? More of them? With more and higher-level experience? Stop the presses!
But surely this line of reasoning begs the question: what is the raison d'etre for playing this or any other friendly?
That's just not true. People don't question Feilhaber's inclusion because we've watched his play with the national team. He's been better than Bradley (though, obviously, they bring different things to the table), and this is without regard to "the goal". I want Bradley included, but I don't want him taking playing time from Feilhaber and Clark. Bradley is currently a first-eleven player with the national team, while Clark is definitely not, and Feilhaber is borderline first-choice. That is why some complain (though some more vociferously than is my wont) about the situation, in my opinion. As an aside, to say that Feilhaber has done so much less than Bradley in his club career is (while irrelevant, in my opinion) also slightly disingenous, at worst, and specious, at best. Until this current season (2007-2008), their situations were very similar. Feilhaber had gotten chances based on injuries, but sat behind a much higher-quality core of midfielders on a much deeper team. Bradley was in and out of the team for most of the season and there is even some evidence that he had fallen out of favor by the end of the year. This season, Feilhaber has struggled with fitness for a couple of weeks with a new team that he just signed with about two days before their first league match of the season. Bradley, to his credit, has been able to establish his place in the team, but with a much more favorable starting postion in regards to training and familiarity et cetera. My point is that any proclamations about his club career in light of Bradley's is premature. I really don't see what difference this makes to the national team, though. If a guy produces for the national team, I don't care if he sits on the bench for Hollywood FC.
I agree with this idea, but "playing time" is not exactly equal in a 1-to-1 sense with "first-eleven-no-question". Michael Bradley should definitely be a roster player, but starting every time he's available is a little extreme. No?
I see where you're coming from. If club play translated so well to Nats play, than Jason Kreis would be the best striker we ever had. Granted I know it's an MLS vs Eredivisie comparison. I haven't seen his club play but I'll make it a point to now. But, we've all seen his international play at the Men's and U-20, and it's not that special that he can't bench so we can look at someone else. He doesn't bring anything to the table that his competition can't at this point, IMO. Also, Pearce plays regularly in the Bundesliga, why isn't he getting an butt load of playing time? I think the same might be said for Simek and Demerit who don't exactly play that far from the talent of Holland. They have both had some good showings when given time, but we fail to see enough of them. I think I'm just frustrated because we are expecting more experimentation and change, like we are being told we are seeing, but a lot of the same guys keeping popping up.
yeah, our england66....this is short but very wise comment... it will be hard match..but interesting one.... if USA beat Brazil, it would be big event in the USA..probably street parade P.S I have not seen you ages on the board. Hope you survived the loss of England against Germany at new Wembley stadium. Or are you still schocked?.I hope you recovered.