The USMNT wins their first match 3-1 and suddenly there are calls for the moniker of ‘Interim Head Coach’ to be dropped for Coach Bradley. So says Soccer y Futbol.
I hate to break it to you, but Old Bruce is right again.
If you watched Saturday’s U.S.-Denmark match, which gave interim coach Bob Bradley a 3-1 win in his debut, then you probably heard former manager Bruce Arena say, in essence, that U.S. Soccer should drop the “I” word from Bradley’s title.
He’s right.
While I admit the whole interim thing is a bit awkward after Klinsmann fell through, let’s not be too hasty. This was one match between two squads missing much of their ‘star talent’. I’m all for making Coach Bradley the head coach of the USMNT if they are successful and improving, but making that decision based on the results of one friendly is insane. I’m thrilled the USMNT won too, but lets not forget that Landon’s PK went THROUGH the arms of the Danish keeper who guessed right and the second goal came from a defender who admitted that he was out of position. “I don’t know how I found myself in the middle of the box,” Bornstein said.
Let’s give it some time.
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January 21st, 2007 at 10:20 am
i think the assistant coach, peter nowak, looked more like the head coach. i’d probably prefer that – if for no other reason than i like fiery coaches. i want passion. we all did. that’s why we wanted klinsmann.
as for the ‘interim’ label – i’m not sure how much of a difference it makes. what i saw of the game, we looked horrible against an almost-never-capped Danish side. Donovan was atrocious – again. Our forwards were still afraid of the goal. We couldn’t complete basic passes. Passes were sloppy, lethargic, inaccurate. The scoreline, at this early stage, is almost – or should be – completely irrelevant. Let’s get the fundamentals down, first.
for instance, Denmark’s first goal – brilliant. almost impossible to stop. not sure what Bruce was going on about. it was a quick breakdown on the far post, led to a decisive cross and a brilliant finish. EPL-style goal. world class. would it have mattered if the U.S. lost the game 1-0, or went down 2-0 after repeatedly surging forward only to get beat on a counter-attack? of course, not. i’ll take an attacking, willing team any day of the week. Italy has shown that they can win games by doing nothing for 89 minutes of each game. The US, too, can go back to being the US of old – packing the box – getting shelled and relying on American goalkeeping prowess to keep us in matches, or we can do like Germany and Argentina and try to rip a win from any team willing to risk sitting back on their heels against us. To each his own. scorelines matter when they matter – this match, however, was a a friendly.
Gulati dropped the ‘interim’ label on the new coach because he was trying to save face. He was trying to save his own job.
End of the day, how much, if any, of Bradley’s decision-making will be affected by his wearing of the ‘interim’ label? None. When you put a guy in there, you need to leave him in there for at least a year or two – and that’s what Gulati will do. Bradley won’t go anywhere because that would mean Gulati admitting yet another disastrous mistake. And he’s only got one or two of those left before he’s out the door himself.
Bradley knows that all he has to do is have his players show up. All they have to do is pretend they want to win. Just a little. This is something Bruce Arena could not get his guys to do this past summer. They should have just stayed home. I’d have happily taken three losses this summer – no problem. But I require that _any_ team needs to at least ‘give it a go’ – at least pretend they want to make an effort to win. Bradley’s team does that, and he’s in for the long haul.
January 25th, 2007 at 1:36 am
On our forwards going at the goal – or not, as it too often seems, at least with Donovan – i checked out Fulham’s page, since Clint “not afraid to go at the goal” Dempsey went over there, and noticed that the team doesn’t have ‘Forwards’, they have players in ‘Attack’.
http://www.fulhamfc.com/MatchAndTeam/PlayerProfiles/1stTeamPlayers.aspx
I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I like the connotation of ‘attack’ vs. ‘forward’.
Thinking back, Cobi Jones used to go at players all the time. He’d usually get stuffed and/or stripped, but at least he went at players. It’s like we did a 180 – Cobi Jones to Landon Donovan. The guy who could _not_ get past anyone went at everyone. And vice-versa for Landon.
I’m rippin guys, but no disrespect intended. I figure anyone willing to get on the field and potentially make a fool of themselves is a hero (http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_credit_belongs_to_the_man_who_is_actually_in/289436.html). But we need new blood. The casual criticism is not enough, and the hysterical criticism is tough to take seriously.
It’s seems like people aren’t getting in Donovan’s ear, and he’s allowed to take up space out there, and that’s not right. People are excited to see a few new faces, but the U.S. is deep these days. I believe in letting guys slump and have bad days – even bad months – but the effort needs to be there.
This game against Mexico could be fun. I don’t care if we lose 5-0. I’m totally unconcerned with scorelines right now. I just want to see effort, teamwork, and attacking.
January 25th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Well, Donovan catches a lot of grief, though it seems like sometimes he’s being put into positions he’s not really comfortable with. Or flip that and he’s not found the position he’s comfortable with when playing with the USMNT players.