No where yet. In related news, if I have to suffer through another game with Bornstein being routinely outclassed on the pitch while Pearce is left out, I swear I will break my TV.
I think the only reason Pearce is being left out is because of his playing in Denmark. A move to a better league would do wonders for his national team career.
Here is a recent article about him (though it does not really add anything new): http://www.americansoccerdaily.com/news/pearcenextmove.htm If he does not get called up for Copa America ...
I would not go pinning my hopes on Pearce as the USMNT left back of the future...in fact I would put my hopes on Spector before him, with Bocanegra perhaps ahead of Spector if Demerit and Gooch end up being the centerbacks. Pearce is far down not on the pecking order, but also just in terms of talent IMO. Is he ahead of Bornstein in talent? I don't quite know. And while some are questioning Bornstein's performance vs. Guatemala presumably...don't forget he has a dominating and shining performance vs. Mexico not long ago, and that was Mexico's first choice "A" squad. So my hopes for Bornstein are still quite high. If all our top players are available and we are fielding our current first choice lineup, I would be surprised if it wasn't something like: Bocanegra---Onyewu---Demerit----Cherundolo with potential replacements along the backline being Spector (anywhere), Simek (right back), Conrad (center back) and that's probably it. Bornstein and Pearce are pretty far behind all 7 of these guys.
Speaking as somebody who's pretty optimistic that both of them will be in healthy competition for the spot for years to come, I just don't get it when people act like there's a huge difference between the two of them. Because there isn't, as far as I've seen.
Sorry to be off thread topic, but.. Has anyone noticed that Bocanegra's response to collecting any ball while not facing "up field" is to send it out of bounds? Granted there are appropiate times to do this. He must have sent 6 balls out of bounds between the China and Guatemala games....
I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't a reaction to the second goal for Ghana in the WC, where he could have played it out but instead his clearance led right to the resulting call. So, maybe he has come to the conclusion that its the safe thing to do...
The Danish season has just ended. Most signing will be taking place after these U-21 and U-20 championships end anyway.
Wow, the guy was beaten like a drum repeatedly for 45 minutes by Medina. Shining moments? Sure. Dominating? Oi vay.
bradley was asked about pearce in ussoccer's podcast on the gold cup roster. he seemed to say that they are keeping track of him. but he took a while to formulate his answer suggesting to me that he did not want to say that pearce is just not as good as spector and bornstein. but that's just my bias. still, i would not be surprised to see him called in for copa.
I noticed that no goals were scored against us because he was not facing upfield and had his pocket picked. It's obvious that he's been instructed to do this and so far this has worked well
Bornstein Dominating against Mexico? Man, he got eaten alive and on no less than 3 occasions his mistakes should have lead to goals. Mexico just couldnt finish in this game and that is the only reason we didnt lose 4-2. Bornstein is not a defender. I think he should be moved up to striker or put on the bench. I certainly would rather have him and Ching up top rather than EJ and Ching. I dont know why Bradley insists on placing him in the back.
Probably because the USMNT keeps winning with Bornstein at left back, including one game where Bornstein scored. Bornstein played great against Mexico, the whole claim that Medina scorched him repeatedly is a joke -- what happened is that for a brief flash Medina got himself into a good position against Bornstein, but Bornstein recovered and closed him down before any real damage could be done. Pearce looked good against Denmark when he got in after the Danes had quit attacking. He was crap for the Nats last year and he talks alot. Not sure if we will be seeing him soon.
I agree. Perhaps it's just me, but it seem that the standard for the USMNT on this board is utter perfection, do not make a mistake, or else you'll be called crap. To me, good play does not require perfection, which is unattainable. Rather, a smart eye on the field that allows you to catch mistakes early (both yours and your teammates) and correct them and, if possible turn an advantage. Game playing is a series of risks, and not all risks turn out your way. I will repeat here my belief that we've got a good YOUNG squad that is learning. We're the only team that has allowed no goals so far, and we have more points than anyone at this stage of the cup, but if you were to read the critics both on soccernet and BS, you'd think we were just squeaking by. Even our young inexperienced squad is playing very competively in our region. Which is why we have to look to chances to play better competition. And be okay with being a little outclassed. Gold Cup is a great learning experience for a young team, a great place to "step up", but it's not going to make us world class. Even if we rout every team out there. So let's applaud the team for being smart enough to win games, not allow goals, and hope that they'll have the mental toughness to stay consistant. Then we can look to take them to the next level. BTW, to stay on thread, I like HP more than Bornstein and I think Bornstein is a BB bias. But he's a young project and I'm not privy to what decisions have led to HP's exclusion. I'm hoping that the Copa call up will include HP, Conrad, Hanemann, and Convey, all players I hope to see get some increased Nat time. Maybe check out young Jeremiah Johnson as well? Bummed that Kenny Cooper got hurt, I was sure he'd be going to the Copa as well if not injured...
When the general fan base is incredibly naive, insecure and ignorant when it comes to most aspects of the game at any deep/sophisticated level these things will happen. They happen everywhere, but for the reasons above it seems much more prevelant here in the US. Think of the US fanbase/media as young teenagers mentally. Then it will make a lot more sense.
Not peaking up above the waves caused by the wait for the big names to sign and move. HP will be a later round move.
Pearce---- Boca-----Demerit------Cherundolo This would give us some speed on the edges with the ability to provide some width in attack and I'm not completely sold on Boca in the offensive third.
I just can't see how Pearce can deserve to be in a first choice back 4. In fact, in my previous list of the top 7 players (of which Pearce and Bornstein are not a part), I failed to mention Cory Gibbs. So that's 8 defenders ahead of either Pearce or Bornstein. So with Gibbs healthy I might go with: Bocanegra----Gibbs----Onyewu-----Cherundolo with second string being (and this is certainly tentative...any of these 4 could easily jump to first string in a very short timespan; the difference here is mostly based on experience): Spector----Demerit----Conrad-----Simek and fringe players being: Pearce, Bornstein, Parkhurst, Berhalter. Maybe even, in a big game with EVERYONE available, Eddie Lewis and/or Bobby Convey would be ahead of Pearce/Bornstein at left back (with Lewis being much more likely than Convey, as Lewis has played there before; this is under the circumstance where Bradley wants to put close to his best 11 players on the field, period, and sort out positions later, whic his of course a big assumption he'll ever want to do that). Before either Pearce or Bornstein see the field at left back I would think that Bocanegra, Spector, and Gibbs are ahead of them at least, and these are all players that will be around until at least 2010 if not 2014. And I maintain that Bornstein was dominant vs. Mexico...he made multiple marauding runs of the left side and as far as I remember he wasn't burned as people are saying here. In fact it looked to me that he outclassed Mexico...at least that was my impression. Perhaps I am forgetting some details, but the fact that some others are agreeing with me on here means I'm probably not. And finally, I do agree that Bornstein is definitely seeing the field so much do to either favoritism, familiarity, and/or proximity (US-based, LA-based). He is reaping the benefits of being in MLS and from Chivas USA, for sure. But that doesn't take away his strong performance vs. Mexico IMO.
I take it you really haven't seen Pearce play outside of the US. When comparing the play of the two, Pearce is cleary more polished and is also considered best LB in Denmark (can someone find a link for that). I'm not going to bash Bornstein, he is young and has time to develop and has shown decently for the USMNT. But at the current time, i'd say he is NOT superior to Pearce. Pearce has more skill, polish and maturity.
both arena and bradley choose somebody other than pearce for the first team after seeing him in camp with other players. and when he has entered games, he has not blown away his competition. so i don't think that he is our best left back. there is just no evidence (as far as i see) to make such a claim. against bigger teams, boca seems to be our best left back (eg. ecuador). he will not go forward very much, but that's the best we can do against the big teams. against smaller teams, (eg. mexico, guatemala) bornstein seems to be our best left back. he will go forward a lot. that's the way i see it. for now.