The only explanation for Bob Bradley's USMNT roster for the upcoming WCQ vs Guatemala is that he wants to put together a team of regulars that have played together a number of times. If you ask me there are too many old people on this team.

GOALKEEPERS: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan.

DEFENDERS: Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Heath Pearce, Steve Cherundolo, Frankie Hejduk, Jay DeMerit.

MIDFIELDERS: Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan, Pablo Mastroeni, Eddie Lewis, Demarcus Beasley

FORWARDS: Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson, Brian Ching, Clint Dempsey.

Here's how I think we should start, disregarding all that I know about Bob Bradley:

                                     Eddie Johnson        

                                    Landon Donovan   

Demarcus Beasley                                       Clint Dempsey

                        Maurice Edu      Pablo Mastroeni            

Heath Pearce                                              Steve Churundalo

                Oguchi Onyewu          Carlos Bocanegra

                                           

                                     Tim Howard

Here is how I can almost assure you that we will start (or something just as silly with awful stirkers and people out of position) :

                    Eddie Johnson         Brian Ching

Landon Donovan                                       Clint Dempsey

                  Michel Bradley          Pablo Mastroeni

Heath Pearce                                                Steve Churundalo

                Oguchi Onyewu            Carlos Bocanegra

                                        Tim Howard

                     

USA vs Nigeria

What is the US lineup going to look like without Michael "Yellow Card Machine" Bradley and Freddy "Fancy Feet" Adu? I don't know, but here is my suggestion:

                          Rogers               Altidore                   

Holden                        Klejstan                        Feilhaber

                            Edu              McCarty

Orozco                                                                 Wynne

                                    Parkhurst

                                      Guzan

But of course McBride will be in the line up and for some reason a 3-5-2 is out of the question, so I expect to see something more like this:

                              McBride                  Davies

Rogers               Klejstan                      Feilhaber             Holden

Orozco                Parkhurst                   Edu                     Wynne

                                            Guzan

MLS Allstar Line-up

With the players that were selected, I'd like to see a 3-5-2 that looks something like this:

                     Kenny Cooper              Juan Pablo Angel

                                    Cuauhtemoc Blanco
Landon Donovan                                                 David Beckham


                  Shalrie Joseph             Pablo Masroeni


   Jonathan Bornstien                                  Frankie Hejduk

                                         Jimmy Conrad

                                            Matt Reis

MLS Allstar Votes

Matt Reis - NE


Drew Moor - DAL
Michael Parkhurst - NE
Bakary Soumare - CHI


David Beckham - LA
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - CHI
Stuart Holden - HOU
Sacha Kljestan - CHV
Steve Ralston - NE


Kenny Cooper - DAL
Landon Donovan - LA

The Magnus Effect

"Carlos kicked the ball with the outside of his left foot to make it spin anticlockwise as he looked down onto it. Conditions were dry, so the amount of spin he gave the ball was high, perhaps over 10 revolutions per second. Kicking it with the outside of his foot allowed him to hit the ball hard, at probably over 30 ms-1 (70 mph). The flow of air over the surface of the ball was turbulent, which gave the ball a relatively low amount of drag. Some way into its path - perhaps around the 10 m mark (or at about the position of the wall of defenders) - the ball's velocity dropped such that it entered the laminar flow regime. This substantially increased the drag on the ball, which made it slow down even more. This enabled the sideways Magnus force, which was bending the ball towards the goal, to come even more into effect. Assuming that the amount of spin had not decayed too much, then the drag coefficient increased. This introduced an even larger sideways force and caused the ball to bend further. Finally, as the ball slowed, the bend became more exaggerated still (possibly due to the increase in the lift coefficient) until it hit the back of the net - much to the delight of the physicists in the crowd."

The Rain in Spain Falls...

We have learned a lot from our two dismal performances in Europe. And I say dismal despite the results on paper, a 2-0 loss to England in London and a 1-0 loss to Fifa ranked number four in the world Spain, because of badly we looked and how few scoring chances we created. Some have claimed that our defense looked strong against Spain, to which I counter that any defense will do reasonably well when you have all eleven players behind the ball. There is no doubt that the US bunkered in for the entire second half against the Spaniards.

So what did we learn about our players:

Freddy Adu: Without a doubt the best offensive player on the US against Spain. Adu seemed the only player capable of holding onto the ball and looking to play dangerous attacking balls forward. His turning chest trap into the box that led to a cross right across the face of goal was a great oppurtunity for the US, if only the US had a player positioned to take advantage of the play. He also played a fantastic leading ball to Eddie Johnson, the kind of pass beyond the skill level of perhaps all the US players in the entire US player pool. There is no longer any excuse to keep Adu out of the starting eleven, at least not now when he is quite obviously the best player on the field for the US.

Michael Bradley: Bradley is not ready for a starting spot on the USMNT. In all his time with the US team he has varied from playing reasonable well to completely awful. And in the last two games he's tended more towards the latter. Bradley's lack of speed prevents him from being any kind of decent ball winner, and often leads to reckless challenges. As one blogger on a recent comment page said "Bradley is a dumb foul waiting to happen." Multiple times in the game against Spain Bradley's poor handling of a pass led to a loss of possession for the US. Bradley has obviously had success at Herenveen but his performances with the USMNT should be the ultimate test of his place on the US team. Right now it seems like he is a good future prospect, not quite deserving of his consistent starting post in the US midfield. Although with the nepotism involved with having your father as the head coach, I would not be surprised to see Michael Bradely on the field in every future game for the US.

The Strikers: Clearly there is not much there for the US. Eddie Johnson has played much better than anyone expected in these last two friendlies. That being said his inability to score on an easy glaring header against Spain presents the reality of Eddie Johnson. We still have to hope the US has a player or two somewhere that can step up into this position. With Altidore headed to Villareal there is still real hope that he can be the striker we have always been looking for. Until then though it would be nice to see some other players get a chance at the role. Kenny Cooper is second in scoring in MLS this year and has always looked like a quality player. Chris Rolfe is a quick, agile, skillfull striker who plays on perhaps the best team in MLS. Young players like Jeremiah White and Johann Smith should also be considered, as both are said to possess impressive speed.

The Defense: The US still can claim a solid backline. Bocanegra and Onyewu always do well at disrupting attacks and clearing balls played into the box. Bocanegra is a lock but perhaps we should take a second look at Onyewu. On Xavi's goal Onyewu was out of position, seemingly trying to occupy the same space Bocanegra was already in, leaving a gap for Xavi to drive through. Cherendulo is still strong although it would be nice to see him in attacking positions more often. Pierce is a weak link for the the US side. Reasonable on his defensive responsibilities, it is hard to imagine any left back being worse at distrubution and passing in general. We have to hope for someone else to come along and fill this role.

In Total: Obviously I did not mention all the players who played in these two friendlies, instead focusing on the ones who stood out as being either poor or good. Most everyone else played typically or slightly underperformed. It is hard to know what the US would have looked like had Donovan been healthy and playing at the top of his game. No matter who the head coach or surrounding players, the US always looks best when Donovan is playing his best. We can only hope that his return, along with Adu, can propel the US forward into a quality international side.

If we must play a 4-4-2

Bob Bradley's empty bucket midfield has exposed the USA's lack of a dominant central midfielder. With only two players in the middle you generally expect one to do the dirty work; winning loose balls, shutting down attackers, covering lots of ground; while the other bridges the gap between defense and offense, carries the ball foreword and orchestrates the attack. With the empty bucket (two defensive central midfielders) you expect both players to do the dirty work, and rely on the team to be able to transition to offense through strikers checking back and wingers tucking inside. Unfortunately for the US, our midfield seems to not cover enough ground in the center to disrupt the opponent, nor pose any sort of a quick transition to offense. We don't even seem to build the attack very well from the back. The obvious solution is that we put another man in the middle of the field, bringing the total to three central midfielders. We could swap out one of our forwards who seem to be useless without that transitional midfielder anyways, making a 4-5-1 formation, or push someone up from the back line and play a 3-5-2. Bob Bradley seems reluctant, if not adamantly opposed to playing anything but a 4-4-2. So then the solution must be found in personnel. We must find two central midfielders who as a tandem are able to both cover ground in the middle and play consistent balls to our attackers and wingers. We must also choose attackers who are able to check back to support the midfield, create space for themselves to receive passes, as well as hold possession longer than usual.

Why our personnel failed us against England:
Wolfe couldn't create space for himself, therefore rarely received the ball. And when he did get possession he could not keep it.
Clark and Bradley simply cannot cover enough ground in the midfield. Both are prone to reckless tackles and inconsistent passing. Bradley is the more promising of the two, and may be out of position based on his performance in Europe this season.
Beasley is out of form.

I believe the key to the USA's midfield struggle is Pablo Mastroeni. Until someone is able to disrupt the opponent the way that he has in the past and still can, he needs to be on the field. Let's hope that is why Bradley called him up for this next game. I think that with Pablo Mastroeni and anybody as our two central midfielders we can then get on with figuring out which of our attackers are the least useless. We have to start Freddy Adu. Here is how I'd like to see us start out against Spain unless Donovan can play or Bradley finally bails on the 4-4-2:


                 Freddy Adu Eddie Johnson

    Eddie Lewis                            Clint Dempsey

             Maurice Edu       Pablo Mastroeni

Heath Pearce                               Steve Churundalo

          Oguchi Onyewu       Carlos Bocanegra


                              Tim Howard

But really I think this would be better:

                               Jozzy Altidore

   

    Freddy Adu      Landon Donovan      Clint Dempsey

         

                  Maurice Edu    Pablo Mastroeni

Heath Pearce                                       Steve Churundalo

 

            Oguchi Onyewu     Carlo Bocanegra

                                  Tim Howard

USA friendly roster and line-up hopes

Here are the initial 33 players that will be used for the 3 upcoming USA friendlies against England, Argentina, and Spain:


G:
Dominic Cervi - no team
Brad Guzan - Chivas USA
Tim Howard - Everton
Troy Perkins - Valerenga
Chris Seitz - Real Salt Lake
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham
Dan Califf - Midtjylland
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard de Liege
Michael Orozco - San Luis
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
M:
Freddy Adu - Benfica
DaMarcus Beasley - Glasgow Rangers
Michael Bradley - Heerenveen
Ricardo Clark - Houston Dynamo
Maurice Edu - Toronto
Benny Feilhaber - Derby County
Eddie Gaven - Columbus Crew
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Eddie Lewis - Derby County
Pablo Mastroeni - Colorado Rapids
F:
Jozy Altidore - New York Red Bulls
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Kenny Cooper - Dallas
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
Nate Jaqua - Rheindorf Altach
Eddie Johnson - Fulham
Robbie Rogers - Columbus Crew
Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich

Here is who I'd like to see starting against England:

           Jozy Altidore

Landon Donovan   Freddy Adu Clint Dempsey

Maurice Edu    Michael Bradley

Eddie Lewis Steve Churundalo

Oguchi Onyewu  Carlos Bocanegra

Tim Howard

And really Pablo Mastoeni could be in there instead of either Edu or Bradley, and the attacking midfielders could be in any formation, just so long as we've got 3 guys in the middle. And for God sakes, will a left sided player please step up so I don't have to keep typing Eddie Lewis's name into line-ups.

DuNord Style

I thought I would link to a few good soccer reads I've come across recently. There is a consistent theme in these two articles, why people hate soccer stars. And they are both funny as well.

It is quite obvious that there is a Donovan-hating contigent in the US soccer fan base. I've always contributed this mostly to Donovan being used as the poster boy for American soccer, the Golden Boy if you will, and yet not quite being able to live up to this standard in some people's minds. Also perhaps those who dislike him fail to notice all the positive little things he sometimes does in games, the detailed stuff that more second-hand soccer fans don't see. From a neutral perspective it's clear that Donovan is the best US soccer player, with speed, skill, and vision that have helped him become the leading US goal scorer of all time. Steve Davis analyzes this phenomenon in an article I found linked to from DuNord.

Christiano Ronaldo is probably the best player in the world right now. There must have been an interesting TV piece on Ronaldo to inspire this column, a column that is more entertaining than insightful. If some British people don't really like Ronaldo, perhaps it is due to his pretty-boy image and his past affinity for diving. Anyways this one's pretty good too.

USA vs Poland

Here is the roster for the USA:

G:
Marcus Hahnemann - Reading
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover 96
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Cory Gibbs - Charlton Athletic
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard de Liege
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
Jonathan Spector - West Ham United
M:
Michael Bradley - Heerenveen
Ricardo Clark - Houston Dynamo
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
Benny Feilhaber - Derby County
Eddie Lewis - Derby County
F:
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Eddie Johnson - Fulham
Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich

Howard and Hahnemann: Both great keepers. No arguments here.

No real surprises at Defender except for Gibbs. Hasn't he been injured for 2 years and just now back for his club side? He can't be in good form yet can he?

The midfield has always been my problem with Bob Bradley. There are so many good options for every spot in the midfield except maybe right wing. Bradley just never seems to get it right, always playing two defensive midfielders in the center with no floating attacker. Midfielders playing striker with no support. We never seem to have enough people to win balls in the center of the field. Michael Bradley scores goal after goal in Holland, but here his role is to do the grunt work in the center of the field, meanwhile our strikers can't score to save their lives and our best goal scorer of all time is lost out wide playing defense against our opponents wingers.

I'm actually ok with the striker selections this time around. Eddie Johnson still has potential and at one time was better than any other option we've seen since. I still think Dempsey is out of position up front. He needs to get the ball with some space so he can take people on and this never happens when he is our target man. Josh Wolf is decent, still pretty fast, but why not Chris Rolfe? Brian Ching has proven himself almost as useless as Twellman at the international level, but hasn't had a shot in a while.

I'm not surprised that the youngsters from olympic qualifying aren't around for this match. We know who will be getting chances in the future and Bradley can be excused somewhat for their absence this once.
Here is how I'd like to see the US start out against Poland:

                     Johnson

      Donovan Dempsey

Lewis        Wolf

  Bradley    Feilhaber

Onyewu Churundalo

  Bocanegra

   Howard

More Thoughts on US Soccer

Since my last post the USA has beaten Canada 3-0 to qualify for the Beijing Olympics (thank god!). The U-23's played their best game of the tournament against the Canadians, where Freddy Adu scored on two spectacular freekicks. The third goal was well orchestrated from the run of play and provided some pay off for all the possession the US has had in all of their games.

Unfortunately the US lost to Honduras in the final. It was a game the US dominated by could not produce any goals. Robbie Findley missed the most glaring chance when he failed to convert a perfect cross from Barret, instead heading the ball directly into the ground causing it to bounce up into the crossbar. Speaking of Barret, I stick by my story that he is a good forward. He still makes mistakes but his ability to move into spaces and hold the ball help open up the play. Findley played well overall and demonstrated his speed and skill on several occasions, but failed in front of the net and often seemed to not be within the right passing lane, with multiple passes pushing slightly wide of him. Altidore came on as a sub and did very little. In fact he didn't play well at any time in the tournament. He seems to never be moving back to show for passes. At least not doing this well. He's a strong skillfull player but still has a lot of work, no doubt a lot of it tactical.

Some other positive notes from the final was the play of Maurice Edu and Eddie Gaven. Edu was very noticeable, breaking up plays, making good passes, and generally looking far more mature than any other player on the US team. Eddie Gaven was very creative and pushed forward, taking on players and putting in dangerous crosses.

The US found themselves in front of the Honduran goal so many times during the course of the match, and their attempts on goal were generally dismal. A few players took at least one strong shot - Edu, Barret, Altidore, and Gaven. But most of the shots were really sad. One of Kamani Hill's left footed shots sailed out undeflected for a Honduran throw in. The US combined on several occasions with tight passes in the box, but all chances coming to naught. Overall a disapointing result but mostly strong play from the young pups.

On the US roster for the game against Poland...what is Bob Bradley's deal? Brian Ching? Really? And why call in Eddie Johnson? Johnson's play for Fulham has only served to reinforce my view of him as a terrible soccer player. He has no willingness to play hard, in fact he seems fearful of getting involved in the play. Not exactly the mentality you want in a striker. I'd much rather see Altidore. Why not try some other guys up front? Like maybe Chris Rolfe or Chad Barrett. I saw this coming. Bradley thinks like Arena. I'm convinced they think having a guy like Johnson just being on the field in a top European league is enough to improve his play. Like through some sort of soccer talent osmosis. As for the other call ups...why not bring some of the young guys that may be involved in the Olympics this summer (or fall whenever it is)? Bring Edu instead of Clarke, bring Adu and maybe Stuart Holden, Sascha Kljestan, or Eddie Gaven. Jay Demerit? Eddie Lewis? Come on Bradley bring in some young guys and give them a chance. Maybe try a different tactical strategy that puts players like Donovan and Dempsey in roles where they can thrive and be the most effective. I think Nowak did a great job with the U-23's. Maybe we could pull a pot-bellied switch and install him as the national team coach. Of course we can't but I still don't put much faith in Bradley. I guess only time will tell.

US Under-23's First Round

Some thoughts on the team and players after the first round of Olympic Qualifying:

Overall the US played sloppy, lacking in concentration for many spells during the games. Despite this they managed to outplay every opponent in the first round. They even showed glimpses of playing a high quality brand of soccer. In this regard they were very inconsistent. The most glaring weakness was their inability to create chances and score goals.

As far as the players there were some Pros and some Cons. For space reasons I'll just cover who I thought played well.

Pros:
Dax Mccarty: Played the role of tireless defensive workhorse in the first two games. His quality fell off against Panama, but showed a good intelligence and a willingness to fight for every ball.
Stuart Holden: The Houston Dynamo midfielder probably had the most consistently good performance of all the US players. A skillfull dribbler and smart passer who played with a professional attitude in that he seemed to retain concentration in all his time on the field.
Kamani Hill: Converted from striker to right back, Hill looked solid defensively and sharp moving forward.
Michael Orozco: This Mexican looking central defender seemed to have the defense organized in the two games he played in. Orozco always seemed to be well positioned and put up an overall solid performance.
The Female Streaker: The woman who ran onto the field late in the Honduras match, draped in the American flag and skimpy underwear had probably my favorite performance of the tournament. It's just that it seems like streakers are always male. And fat. It's nice to see a change. I hope we get to see her, or others like her, in more games this year.

Other:
Players like Kljestan and Adu looked really good at times, but made too many mistakes to put them in the "Pro" category. Edu was up and down as usual, while many of the other players played well at times. The team seemed to play better in each successive game, dominating Honduras possession wise in the final match. Hopefully this round has prepared the team to succeed in the next round and qualify the US for the Bejing Olympics.

Post USA MEX thoughts part 2

I will take a different approach and briefly comment on each players effectiveness.
Bob Bradley - Overall I was not disappointed by his line-up or his substitutions. However I feel that are main weaknesses were winning balls in the middle of the field and maintaining possession in the attacking third. I think the answer to this is another body in the central midfield.
Howard - Superb as usual. Bocanegra - shaky at times but always manages to be in the right place when somebody else screws up. Onyewu - Scored a goal on a great header and didn't do anything stupid. Maybe he'll play a bit more consistently this year. Drew Moor - looks great on the ball and going foreword but blew it twice on defensive set pieces. Churundalo has this spot locked anyways. Ramirio Corrales - looked decent at times but questionable for the most part. We have to find somebody else to play left back. Convey - not his best game. Ricardo Clark - Doesn't have enough presence to cover the ground we need covered by our central midfielder. He played ok but didn't seem to win enough balls or have any success going foreword. Bradley - played better than Clark in most regards but still isn't holding down the center of the field like we need him to. We've yet to replace Mastroeni as that predator at defensive center midfield. Donovan - got more involved as the game went on and was one of our stronger players on the attack, but having him out on the right wing left Drew Moor often overwhelmed on that side of defense. Altidore - didn't see much of the ball early but did well to get onto the end of some passes when they came. The goal seemed simple enough but how many times have we seen that chance blown by Twellman/Ching/Johnson/etc.? Dempsey - saw a bit more of the ball and was able to hold onto possession under pressure better than I've seen him do in a while. I still think he may be better suited on the wing, but great individual effort on the no-goal.
Subs: Feilhaber - played surprisingly well for not ever seeing the field or even the bench for Derby. Adu- didn't do much at first but to see him taking on 3 Mexicans with the success of a Messi or Ronaldo... ridiculous. Lewis - played well. Edu - didn't see much time but looked decent.

My conclusion is that we need to try a 3-5-2. One more body in the middle will help us win loose balls and keep possession. We also need to move Donovan to a position with no defensive responsibilities. That floating center attacker is ideal. Also we need to try and fit Adu in as a starter.

USA-Mexico:Post-Match Thoughts

Firstly I need to credit Bob Bradley on a well-managed game overall. I was very happy with his subsitutions, and they were all timely. The one weak spot on field for the US was Ramirio Corrales, I wasn't sure why he was out there. The US played well, they played strong and tight defensively and moved the ball very well a number of times offensively. Both US goals were fantastic. Dempsey was very effective and probably our best player on the field (who was ever so barely offsides right before he scored). Tim Howard was great as well as Bocanegra defensively. Michael Bradley played well in the first half but started to fade in the second, though Feilhaber came in for him and played great. Altidore was mediocre (yet far more effective than Twellman) until he scored on an impressive header - shout out to Moor for the nice cross, although he needs some more defensive work. The game itself provided all of the emotion and intensity that this rivalry always does. USA-Mexico games are always a lot of fun. The refs seemed to favor Mexico but not to a drastic extreme. And Coach Bradley rose to the occassion, for that we can give him credit, but I'm still not willing to take back all the mean things I've said about him. His coaching has been inconsistent and he has made bad decisions along the way. He won back a life-line with me today. But we will see if he can continue to move this team forward.

My USA lineup for 2/6 vs Mexico

Kind of a 3-5-2

  

    Altidore         Bradley

        Donovan

Convey      Dempsey

        Edu    Feilhaber

Onyewu     Bocanegra

     Parkhurst

        Howard

USA VS MEXICO roster

The roster:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton, England)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Ramiro Corrales (Brann, Norway), Drew Moor (Dallas), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Michael Parkhurst (New England), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), Eddie Robinson (Houston)

Midfielders: Freddy Adu (Benfica, Portugal), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), Ricardo Clark (Houston), Bobby Convey (Reading, England), Brian Davis (Houston), Maurice Edu (Toronto), Benny Feilhaber (Derby, England), Stuart Holden (Houston), Eddie Lewis (Derby, England)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (New York), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Pat Noonan (Aalesund, Norway)

As soon as I get a chance I'll come up with a lineup out of these players. A lot of solid choices, lets see what Bob Bradley can come up with.

Evidence of Bob Bradley's incompetence

He has continued to start Taylor Twellman long since it became obvious that he is useless at the international level.
He hasn't tried any formation other than 4-4-2.
He plays Donovan out of position.
He plays Dempsey out of position.
His son, Michael Bradley, has scored 15 so far this season in Europe, but is played as a defensive midfielder for the U.S.
Instead of experimenting with young talent and alternate formations, he plays veterans out of position.

USA v. Sweden II

Here's my line-up.

Altidore      Rolfe

Donovan

Mapp       Edu      Kljestan

Dunivant Conrad Parkhurst Wynne

Guzan

USA v. Sweden

Here is how I hope the USA takes the field against Sweden next weekend.

Altidore Rolfe

     Donovan

Mapp Edu Clark Kljestan

  Moor    Parkhurst      Conrad

Guzan