Before reading any further, it's probably best to watch the video embedded above. Let's call that the good the Michael Bradley.
Fans of the U.S. National Team have seen plenty of the good Bradley, the player that's a box-to-box midfield force who's chipped in with six goals in 34 international appearances, while simultaneously establishing himself at SC Hereenveen in the Dutch Eredivisie and currently at Borussia Mönchengladbach in the German Bundesliga.
There's also the other side of Bradley, let's call it
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the bad side. The side that racks up reckless fouls leading to yellow and red cards as recently witnessed in the U.S.'s semifinal win over Spain at June's the Confederation's Cup, which caused him to miss the final against Brazil a few days later. This weekend in Germany Bradley, who's usually in the starting XI, was left out of the Borussia Monchengladbach squad because coach Michael Frontzeck says he "didn't realize his mistakes in the recent matches."
For U.S. fans, hopefully this is a one-time occurrence because Bradley figures to be a key component in his father Bob Bradley's squad for the 2010 World Cup. Yet even if the incidents is unrelated, it does bring to light a lingering concern about the younger Bradley's game, namely his lack of discipline on the field.
Bradley, who's still just 22 years old, has all the talent to command the center of the U.S. midfield for the next couple World Cup cycles, witness his two goals against Mexico back in February. When he's on the field the U.S. is clearly a more complete and dangerous team. Bradley has all the physical tools to succeed, if he can hone the mental aspects there's no ceiling to his upside.
Therein lies the rub, part of what makes Bradley such a force for the U.S. midfield is his strong, physical nature. By the same token, all it takes is a fraction of a second to turn a good, hard challenge into a bookable offense. And in a tournament setting like a World Cup, losing a player to a red card can cripple a team.
The fact that his father is the coach only serves to compound or muddle the issue depending upon how you choose to look at it.
Either way we'll get an quick look if the benching affected Bradley or if he's made any adjustments in his game when the U.S. hosts El Salvador Saturday night in Utah for a must-win CONCACAF World Cup qualifier.
As it stands defender Oguchi Onyewu must serve a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation and on top of that nine U.S. players would be suspended for next week's qualifier at Trinidad & Tobago should they receive a booking vs. El Salvador. As luck would have it, Bradley is not among those nine.
