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Soccer

For US, It's About a Lot More Than Bob

Posted Jun 19, 2009 5:42PM By Brian Straus (RSS feed)

Filed Under: U.S. Men's National Team

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I was invited Friday afternoon to join a Facebook group called "Fire Bob Bradley". The group has attracted more than 800 members -- people who care enough about the U.S. national team's performance to register their frustration (a good thing) and who also, somehow, believe that removing any single individual will quickly bridge the massive talent, cultural and logistical gap so evident in this week's disappointing Confederations Cup losses to Italy and Brazil.

Bradley has made his mistakes. Starting the obviously struggling DaMarcus Beasley against the Brazilians was a stunner. But to assume that replacing the coach (with whom?) will boost U.S. Soccer's effort to solve deep-seeded problems before what looks like an inevitable three-and-out performance at next summer's World Cup is naive and counterproductive.

Disappointment usually is tied to expectations. After five straight World Cup appearances, four CONCACAF Gold Cup titles and 13 years of a professional league, many American fans are ready to take the next step. The problem is that they think they're entitled to skip several on the way because they've tasted a bit of success. It doesn't work like that.

During the telecast of the 3-0 thumping by Brazil, ESPN showed a couple of highlights from the Americans' only victory over the Selecao, the 1-0 Gold Cup upset in 1998. Here was coach Steve Sampson's starting 11 for that match:

GK Kasey Keller; Ds Mike Burns, Alexi Lalas, Eddie Pope, Jeff Agoos; MFs Frankie Hejduk, John Harkes, Joe-Max Moore, Cobi Jones; Fs Eric Wynalda, Roy Wegerle.

The beloved Sampson brought Brian McBride on for Wynalda and replaced Wegerle with Preki, who scored after that famous cutback to his left foot.

That game was 11 years ago. How many of the players at Bradley's disposal this week would you rather have on the field? Certainly Landon Donovan over Wegerle. Perhaps Clint Dempsey instead of Moore or a healthy Steve Cherundolo or Carlos Bocanegra over Burns. There definitely are athletes on the current national team whose technical skill is superior - Jozy Altidore, Benny Feilhaber and Jose Francisco Torres come to mind. But would you rely on those players in the clutch, against the best teams in the world?

What also is painfully clear is that this current generation of American players lacks the intangibles to handle opponents like Brazil or Italy. I have little doubt that had a Brazilian or Italian lunged into the same tackles that resulted in this week's red cards for Ricardo Clark and Sacha Kljestan that the "Jordan Rules" of international soccer would have meant mere cautions from the genuflecting referees. But this isn't news, and it's something American players haven't seemed to grasp. And it has nothing to do with Bradley. The 2008 Olympic team eliminated themselves from the Beijing games thanks largely to stupid cards for Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley and Michael Orozco. That group was coached by celebrated disciplinarian Peter Nowak.

In addition, the technical ability of Dempsey, Feilhaber and Beasley hasn't helped them to avoid making horrendous recent misplays that led directly to goals for the opposition (Dempsey in the World Cup qualifier against Honduras, Feilhaber against Italy and Beasley vs. Brazil). These are issues of concentration and field awareness that are at the core of an athlete's personality and development. They do not come from an individual coach, especially one that handles them once they're professionals and deals with them only during abbreviated national team camps and tournaments.

Bradley can bench them, but who does he bring on? It would be nice if Brian Ching was healthy, but he's just one player. Overall, the lack of experienced depth in the American player pool is troubling. In fact, fans on the aforementioned Facebook forum are calling for Adu -- the same player who's been ridiculed for his inability to get a game in Europe. The U.S. has far too many athletes in similar situations, either playing for smaller clubs in leagues no stronger than MLS or riding the bench in more prestigious circuits. For every Bocanegra, who's effective for both a club in a major European league and the national team, there are a half-dozen players either flailing abroad or trying to better themselves in MLS. Sometimes success in the domestic league works (McBride, Hejduk, etc.). Sometimes, like in the case of players like Taylor Twellman and Jason Kreis, it doesn't.

We simply are not developing footballers who can compete at the highest level. That starts with youth clubs, the college system, the Olympic Development Program. It's not Bradley's job. What is happening in South Africa is the revelation of the former, not the indictment of the latter.

So the fans joining that Facebook group must think some other coach will be capable of making these current players better, of magically transforming someone who can't get off the bench for a Spanish second division team or who's slogging through the Danish league into someone who can score against Brazil. Why this generation of players has failed to match the vigor and composure of their predecessors is a question for another post -- are they too eager to skip steps as well? -- but to assume that Bradley can do anything about the core issues resulting in this week's routs is foolish.

The problem goes to development. To the way our players are forged as teenagers. No coach, not even sought-after Juergen Klinsmann (who didn't even last a full season at Bayern Munich), could have changed that in South Africa.

Tags: Bob+Bradley, Confederations+Cup, U.S.+national+team

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