Good morning all. It is a busy Saturday in the European soccer world and I’m sure many of you are watching the EPL, La Liga and Serie A games today (among other leagues). Feel free to share your thoughts on today’s games at the bottom of this post. Whether it’s an amazing goal, terrible call, or great game in general, let us know what you’re watching today.
Share your thoughts on today’s games below.
Aristotle, Thanks for that link I’ll check it out after I post this.
On the comments about finding out who was ready to contribute to the national team from the Copa America trip. One has to admit BB hands were very tied considering both Euro and MLS teams did not have to release there players. MLS could have gain serious points with the Latin audience it says it wants to attend its games and watch its games. Regarding the players I think its a bit unfair to give up on some of the players used in that tournanment because they simply had not been prepared to play for the national team. What I mean is usually BB and Arena would try to bring in players for a training camp and then a few small minutes in friendly so they learn the system before actually playing serious mintues in a big friendly or competitive match. This is not to say Gaven and Gomez can make contribution to the national team, those two play in MLS the last 2 seasons simply were not up to national team duty. But Wynn and others at Copa America deserve the ability learn the system and get similar treatment given to Adu and Altidore before just given up on.
Since there’s no Soccer Sunday post yet…
Man City up 2-nil on ManU at the half??
Is DeMerrit injured?
East River:
There have been a lot of questions lately about Cory Gibbs. Every time a USMNT game is played with yet another horrible performance at his position, it makes people remember the seemingly forgotten Cory Gibbs. I have been wondering about him a lot also. Here is all that I could find out, and it’s probably about as up to date as it’s going to get until someone breaks the news that he is back in training again.
It’s shocking how little information there is about him, even on the Charlton website.
In information posted 1-28-08 there is a reference made suggesting that he along with some other players will be back in training for Charlton “soon”.
While I was looking I came across this extremely funny mock interview with Cory Gibbs. Apart from being hilarious it will also give you some incite as to his situation. Here is the link for the interview for those of you who are interested or haven’t already seen it.
http://newyorkaddick.blogspot.com/2007/09/exclusive-interview-with-cory-gibbs.html
Well I for one did understand that you were criticizing BB. And I think it’s not really all that bad.
At the Copa America we were inferior due to the players we sent: for the most part they suuuuuuuuuck. Yes, that was BB’s decision; therefore, the performance side of it should reflect poorly on him. But the decision to try and find talent in young, untried players shouldn’t reflect poorly on him.
Arguably it wasn’t the best tourny to play guinea-pig with the team (because it did make the USA seem disrespectful to the world sending our C squad). However, we can’t deny that it was useful. We definitely know of some players to never call up again: Eddie Gaven, Herculez Gomez, etc. I don’t really blame BB for that.
We DID win the Gold Cup (and let’s face it, that WAS the priority. You may not agree with that, but it WAS the priority cup … period. I didn’t say you had to like it, but that’s the way it is.) So he couldn’t call in the big guns away from Europe for TWO big cups. So BB decided to find out some things about the US player pool, which he did.
In other words, the way I see it, the USMNT is in a state of major transition right now. EVERYTHING about soccer in America is a huge state of transition. I think it has a lot LESS to do with BB, and a lot more to do with where we’re at soccer-wise right now.
Things are growing and changing. MLS is getting more world-wide recognition. Soccer is becoming a lot more serious (which really means a lot more financially important in America). BB is dealing with all of these factors. He’s also taking advantage, too. He’s called in a bagillion kids I’ve previously never heard of from all over the world.
I’m getting off track. The point is, with everything soccer in a state of flux here, there is an inherent instability that comes with that. Soon the business of soccer will begin to regulate itself in America, and we can start truly taking advantage of our resources (A la Jozy Altidore, a MAJOR success). BB is dealing wit all of this and I think doing a fine job. And as soccer begins to stabilize and regulate itself here, so will our MNT. We will know a lot more about our player pool than we EVER did under the Bruce.
Yes, we still have some issues, like on the flanks (Beasley, Convey, fullbacks, etc). But that’s the point. we’re working it out. Better NOW than in two years, (as you fear). So kudos for BB having the cajones to take a few risks in order to be better prepared in two years.
I think people misunderstood my comments on MB and BB. I wasn’t criticizing MB for his performance against Mexico. He had an off-night and he and his teammates had a hard time coordinating runs, anticipating each other’s movements and moving accordingly. That’s fine, it happens to everyone and as numerous people pointed out, its hard to make a cohesive unit out of guys that don’t play with each other regularly.
The point that I was making is that I’m not satisfied with the job BB has done with the team to date. This isn’t something that can be captured by counting wins, losses and draws. It has a lot more to do with looking at how our team is playing and performing vis-a-vis who we’re playing against. I didn’t have a lot of faith in BB before he was appointed interim coach and I’ve seen nothing since that has demonstrated to me that if we had the same group as in Germany ’06 — Czech Republic, Italy and Ghana — that we would perform any better against these teams and be able to make it to the knockout stage.
I’ve seen BB do alright against inferior competition, but every time we’ve played up, except for the Switzerland game, we’ve lost. Mexico I consider as being on our level.
That’s disappointing. The closest we’ve come to putting our team into a competitive environment similar to the WC is the Copa America. At that tournament, we had teams of comparable caliber playing their best and we bombed miserably. So people can wait until 2010 to really judge Bob, but I think its worthwhile to change directions now in order to give our team time to really improve in the next two years.
If you think about it we were missing our best wide player (Beasley) and the two wide players playing were Donovan and Convey.
Donovan is not a true right sided midfielder, it’s kind of like playing Gerrard in the right midfield position and expecting him to do the same thing as a regualr winger.
Convey was extremely average. Not to mention our outside backs weren’t stellar either.
I do agree with you point on Bradley. He is 20. This is a friendly, I don’t care that it’s against Mexico. His father is still working out the right formation and set of players he will want to use when it comes time for serious WCQ. He is probably figuring out which strikers work best together, where to play the likes of Donovan and his son, and other things of that nature. The world of soccer changes often, so things he may have figured out this summer may change due to injuries, form, and other factors.
Why are you getting worked up over MB’s game against Mexico? As one poster said, he had virtually no time to practice with the team, he flew 6 time zones, and while he didn’t play brilliantly, he did o.k. The kid’s 20! Give him a break!
I agree with one poster that said one of the USMNT big problems is that they didn’t attack down the flanks. Or more specifically, where was the pass out to the flank, followed by a cross into the middle? Oh yeah, they did that once, and it scored… Why weren’t they doing that more???
I’m too cheap to pay for cable. Here watching Chivas Guadalajara vs Atlas on XEWT-DT, and its free. Very entertaining Atlas kept attacking but couldn’t put it in between the post. Chivas did, wins 2-0
A youtube version of Bradley’s equalizer:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4bon9_psv-hee-bradley-11_sport?from=rss
Heerenveen played exceptionally well in this match after falling behind 43 seconds in.
Gomes for PSV was man of the match, because he made some wicked saves… Both keepers played at a high level in an exciting match.
Bradley made his standard run into the area, followed with a deft finish, now has 13 goals in the league and 17 in all comps. Michael is also alone in 4th on the Eredivisie scoring charts..
He has scored in 6 straight matches!
Mon the Veen’!
I was really critizing BB only wondering and taking notice that his son’s doesn’t score as much in front of him. That could be b/c of the pressure many sons feel under their father’s coaching. I don’t know but its ok to wonder why this is so.
I wouldn’t put to much on seeing Beasley contribute anytime this year. Remember he had a major knee injury that will not only take some time to rehab but also time to get back into form. Convey hasn’t been the same since his knee injury, Beasley hadn’t really been the same since that injury in the Dutch Cup, and what about Gibbs.
Does anyone know how Corey Gibbs is progressing? I saw that his name is still on the Charlton roster but he still hasn’t played for them this season.
I’ve watched the last few Heerenveen games on my computer, and I have noticed that one thing Heerenveen does really well that the USMNT lacks is attack down the wings. These attacks allow Bradley to make his signature perfectly-timed runs into the box. Hopefully when we get Beasley back, he’ll be able to create like this on the left side.
By the way, if you haven’t seen Bradley’s goal today against PSV, make sure you take a look. He showed great composure to take the ball off the bounce and put it into the side netting (video thanks to Johan Dersken):
http://www.soep-r.nl/uploads/1202657822.gif
No one was criticizing MB, I agree. However, some were criticizing the coach, BB. Critiques of the coach aren’t bad or wrong in general. But, criticisms of the coach because his son had an off day and didn’t score any goals? That’s why I was trying to put things in perspective a bit.
Your point about Mexico having the same hodgepodge group of guys is perfectly valid and absolutely true. Some of Mexico’s guys had good games, some had bad games. Mexico DID look better and WERE the better team. However, did ANY of their “best” guys for offense and scoring have a great game? Not really. Their two goals came from a defender who took perfect advantage of terrible USA defending (Drew Moor). So some could say that a lot of their guys didn’t live up to their billing either.
The point is, I think, that stuff like this takes time and we shouldn’t be ready to attack anyone yet. BB has done a relatively good job at the helm. He’s WAY better than Bruce Arena, no doubt. I still think he’s working things out, even as the head coach of the USMNT, and figuring out his way around the national scene. He’s doing a good job trying young talent to find out who’s right for the team … some are (Jozy, MB) some aren’t (Eddie Gaven Drew Moor). He’s doing the right thing I think, and there’s nothing wrong with a kid having a bad game.
Does anyone else feel like crying every time they watch NEWCASTLE?
I don’t think anyone (at least I wasn’t) was criticizing the kid. He’s obviously got some talent. I’ll abandon the critique of dad using the son as an example.
Just take a look at the Mexico game as a whole, though. Mexico also had a hodgepodge of players from all over the globe (granted, they had more players from their currently in-season domestic league than we did), but they had a much more cohesive unit. A typical possession for the U.S. was one or MAYBE two touches and then either the ball was passed to the wrong team or stolen from one of our players (typically a midfielder – i.e. Bobby Convey).
On the other hand, Mexico’s possessions involved four or five different players touching the ball with a whole lot more field covered.
I digress, though. This isn’t the right thread for this discussion.
I think it’s safe to say that Michael Bradley has put himself in the shop window.
Let’s not freak out too much about his USMNT performance the other night. It wasn’t great or awful. This summer the team will have a chance to find some cohesion. When MB transfers to a bigger club it will be nearly impossible for him to do any olympic qualifing. Right?
Let’s keep it in perspective here…
Scoring against Willem II and against Mexico in a grudge match is a little different. He’s 20, he scored the game winner against Switzerland, and I think he’ll become more effective as a scorer as he becomes more comfortable with his role on the US squad.
dcu-snubber/euro new-boy andrew jacobson made the bench for ligue 1 middlers lorient — with seven possible subs, that’s a huge bench, but good to see, nonetheless.
Aw, c’mon naysayers. I understand MB didn’t play as good with MNT as he does for his club, H’veen, but does that REALLY surprise anyone? Well, obviously it does.
So let’s remember that it’s tougher to travel through several time-zones, play at an odd day in the week, at and an odd hour in the day, with only a few days in camp, and play at the same level as one plays with his club, with whom he spends almost every day practicing and building a strong team chemistry.
None of MB’s goals are hardly of his own creation. Meaning, he takes the ball himself down the field and finishes it himself after avoiding any defender in his way. No. MB’s goals come from expertly timed runs that he’s perfected by countless hours in practice with the same guys every day, who MB understands and can anticipate their moves. It’s not quite as easy with a hodgepodge group of guys (Moor? Corrales? Clark?) that he has practically no playing time with in only a couple days of camp.
So let’s be a little less quick to blame everything and everyone in sight. Does this sound reasonable to anyone?
I wonder if it is too early for Ives to do a critique-type post on Bob Bradley’s first year as manager of the USMNT?
He had the success of the Gold Cup but I agree with some of the posts I’ve seen from some people wondering how Jr. can been so effective in Holland but look very avg against Mexico.
Its not just how Michael looked either, that makes me question the job Bob is doing, but the overall team performance in recent friendlies. We had opportunities the other night against Mexico, but I don’t recall us ever controlling play. I never saw the possession stats, but I imagine it was at least 60/40 in favor of Mexico.
Its probably prudent to wait to grade BB until after next summer and some of the preliminary WC qualifying matches, but if we don’t dominate this first run through lower-tiered CONCACAF then some re-evaluation of senior staff needs to occur.
no Eddie did not dress, and Boca, Keller, Demps, and Mcbride were all on the subs bench.
EJ did not dress for Fulham, but 4 of 5 on the bench were Americans.
Nice to see Zizzo make the bench for 96. And what’smup with Cherundolo supposedly being too hurt to play vs. Mexico but went the full 90 for Hannover today?
Did EJ dress for Fulham?
The Son never scored for his Father while at the Metrostars either. Remember he didn’t get his first professional goal until after his Dad was fired. Speaking of today’s game I think his teammate head flicked the ball onto his on going run not it bounced off of his head. There appeared to be a bit of a headsnapped involved. Whatever, he has smashed the record for yanks scoring in a league season in Europe right? Some defensive midfielder he is.
Michael Bradley scored again for Heerenveen, this time against PSV.
Does anyone agree with me that something is terribly wrong with Bob Bradley’s tactics if Michael can play so well in Holland for a Dutch coach, yet have a poor outing for the US national team against Mexico?
Perhaps Bob doesn’t know the best way to play his own son, or perhaps Bob isn’t properly identifying the strengths of any our players and how to best arrange them/use them on the field.
M. Bradley scores again. PSV 1, Heerenveen 1.
Not even kidding.
53rd minute. A cross into the box goes off a teammate’s head it falls in front of Bradley, who was making his run into the area and volleys it home past the ‘keeper.
Dad really needs to put this kid in a position Heerenveen is.
Michael Bradley with another goal.
Danny Szetela came off the bench for the last 10 minutes for Brescia in a 4-2 away win!
zizzo was on the bench for 96
derby 0-3 spurs
thank god, spurs finally opened up the game in the second half. for a while there it was looking almost like a draw with the whipping boys of the prem.
poor derby. i really hate to see a team get so brutally thrashed week after week after week. unless it were man u, chelsea, or l’arse. then i would be happy.
Only good game on today is Barca v. Sevilla at 4 ET. Tomorrow is the Manchester Derby and Real Madrid — can’t wait!
I’m sorry, but I have to REALLY question this Fulham side. I cheer for these Americans, but man, this side doesn’t deserve to stay up. They’re plain bad. I know it’s a road match, but seriously, it’s Boro! It isn’t like we’re playing Arsenal.
Watching a terrible stream of the Mido v. Fulham game, and it’s not much better. With Dempsey in at half, and McBride in now, Fulham is starting to have more possession in the attacking third. However, I doubt they come back from 1-0 down. They really haven’t troubled the goal keeper yet in the 2nd half.
Dempsey and McBride up top for Fulham in the second half. It sure would have been nice to see this game on TV. FSC has the worst games on today!
Galvan Rey’s playing tonight on GolTV!
Watching Everton v. Reading, the only live game on FSC.
The first half was pretty boring, Reading have outplayed Everton, but that is not saying much. The teams have done everything but score. For some reason Everton decided to start one forward at home.
Moyes subbed Vaughn in, so now things should be more positive for Everton. Hopefully, Reading can keep playing well and do the red side of Merseyside a favor.