After watching conversative Bob Bradley during qualifiers, we are now seeing Riverboat Gambler Bob. Robbie Findley? I defy anyone to say they predicted that. And no Brian Ching? Again I defy anyone to say they predicted that. Herculez Gomez? Edson Buddle? Two months ago they were off the radar. And yet they are in South Africa and Conner Casey isn't. Many predicted Klejstan would be on the squad ahead of Torres. Nope. Even Edu and Beasley could be considered surprises. After Beasley's disasterous outing in the Confederations Cup, most wrote off his national career. So again - what has turned Conservative Bob into Riverboat Gambler Bob? I have a theory and aren't you surprised? In qualifying the pressure is on. There is no room for error as not qualifying is not only unthinkable, but also career limiting. And make no mistake - Bob Bradley is an ambitious man. So why change course so drastically now? Well, Bradley is a student of the game of soccer. He was an assistant in 2006. And I am sure he watched all the games in 2002. What was the difference between those two squads and why were the results so different? A number of key players in the 2002 squad came out of nowhere. Wolfe, Beasley and Mastroeni for instance. O'Brien only 13 caps. In the 2006 squad most of the starters were all known entities with lots of experience with the exception of Dempsey and Onyewu. So who scores the only goal in 2006 for the U.S.? Dempsey. What would Bradley take from that? Maybe he gets the idea that the fellows with lots of caps have already shown all that they have. There won't be any surprises. That's good and bad. If your known entities are very very good - well you can count on they continuing to provide the kind of skill and inventiveness you have seen from them before. It they are just good, well you get what get. However, with the newbies, maybe just maybe you get a bit of inventiveness and guile that leads to something great. A Josh Wolfe run along the goal line with a great cutback pass to get the U.S. off on to a great start against Portugal. And the newbies might be too young or too green to understand the pressure they are supposed to feel. Sometimes pressure makes diamonds and sometimes it makes puddles of goo. So thats why I think Bob has turned into Riverboat Gambler Bob. To make it out of the first round and exceed whatever expectation Sunil Gulati has for him, he needs that inventiveness, that unawareness of the pressure that could lead to those moments of brilliance that lead to goals. And goals are what they need. So in light of that what are we too make of the performances against the Czech Republic.
Here is what I saw. Herculez Gomez is unafraid. Yes the goal he scored against the Czech Republic was set up nicely, but he scored it. How many times have we seen Ching back one off the crossbar or post in the same situation. Buddle throws his body around and sets up the first goal by going up against Petr Cech and beating him to the ball. He ends up with a bloody lip and a ticket to South Africa. Beasley proved he still deserves a place on the national team through an all out gritty performance against the Czechs. When he is playing well he torments the defense with his speed and draws fouls. Holden continues to press a case for a starting role. Pearce played his way out of the squad with a horrorshow performance. Onyewu looked rusty. Cherundolo was effective at times but was slow to close down a couple of crosses. Bornstein would have played his way off the squad were there any alternative at all at left back.
And against Turkey? Well, I don't think Spector starts. He pretty much ceded the starting job to Cherundolo. Not for the goal - he didn't distinguish himself and he didn't contribute anything on offense. The rest of the defense in the first half was meh.Turkey had way too many shots and only poor finishing prevented the score from being 3 or 4 to 0 in the first half. Not that the rest of the team distinguished themselves. The Bradley/Clark pairing was not effective and Donovan and Feilhaber just didn't play up to their respective billings. The second half was a completely different story. Findley and Torres opened up the offense, Findley with his speed and Torres with his passing. Onyewu came in for Goodson and the paring with Demerit brought back fond memories of the Confederations Cup. The U.S. outplayed the Turkish team and scored 2 goals and should have had 2 or 3 more. So what do we take from that? I think what we have known all along, that the US Men's team has a chance to shine in South Africa if they show up and play like they can or they could fade into mediocrity in the group round by playing without the daring and confidence they will need to succeed.
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