Maybe Michael Bradley won't have to go looking for a new club this summer after all.
The U.S. national team midfielder's club, Borussia Moenchengladbach, scored a 90th-minute game-winner to defeat fellow relegation battlers Energie Cottbus, 1-0, on Wednesday. The victory moved Moenchengladbach three points clear of relegation and one spot up the Bundesliga standings, ahead of VfL Bochum.
Bradley played 90 minutes for Moenchengladbach, which rattled off a second straight victory after a six-match winless skid had them in jeopardy of being relegated.
The work isn't done. Bradley and his team have two more league matches remaining, on the road against Bayer Leverkusen and at home against Borussia Dortmund.
The club's push to stay in the Bundesliga is offering invaluable experience for Bradley, who joined the club from Heerenveen last summer. He has now become a key figure on the club and his move there is looking much, much better than it did last fall, when he started out the beginning of the season on the bench and the team went through a series of coaching changes. Now Moenchengladbach stand on the verge of an improbable run to avoid relegation, with Bradley serving as one of the team's top players.
What do you think of Moenchengladbach's late-season push? Are you now glad Bradley chose the German club? Are you still hoping Bradley leaves for a new club this summer?
Share your thoughts below.
Gladbach isn’t safe yet!
Hope they will be safe in three hours after the Leverkusen game.
By the way: there are no club-owners in the Bundesliga. Königs is called “Präsident” which means chairman. If most club-members don’t want him anymore he has to go.
Jason – Agree. All excellent points.
Gladbach is safe and Bradley will stay.
Good for Gladbach, Bradley and me, so I can see him play some more next season when I return home from Iraq. Hopefully, Gooch will be behind Bradley and lined up with former teammmate Dante. Great back line.
The one big problem with Gladbach, though, is that the owner, Mr. Koenig, is an absolute idiot. Until he goes, or sometimes grows some sense, they will continue to punch below their weightclass.
@Jason:
You are right. Furthermore, I’d like to add that Gladbach has the same budget as Hertha Berlin (roughly €85m). From the financial point of view there is no reason that ladbach doesn’t end up in the upper half of the table.
TO: mike from linden
I hear what you are saying about a reverse curse, but you are wrong in this case.
M. Bradley played very well for NY in his short time here. It’s not like he played poorly , went somewhere else and has excelled. Had he got traded from NY to another MLS club and done well, then I would agree. According to your logic Tim Howard is part of the curse.
God knows what the circumstances were for his leaving under Mo’s regime, but he had the opportunity to go to Holland and has, as expected, done well.
He’s a terrific player who has advanced in his career, as expected.
I like that both of our best central midfield prospects are playing in physical leagues. Two central midfielders that can take possession from the other team with their size, atheleticism and pace is great. The even cooler part is these guys are starting to get tidier in the final third. Edu is my fave because even though he’s gritty in the defense, he shows the finesse going forwards. Can’t wait to see the two in action.
Good for Gladbach and Bradley.
Just a note for those who are pushing for MB to go to a bigger club that can qualify for Europe:
Germany is one of the leagues where almost anyone can qualify for Europe, and no one is guaranteed a CL spot. It’s a very even league.
The evidence? Here is the current Bundesliga table, and the recent Euro qualifications for each team (last 5 years and beyond, if needed).
1. Wolfsburg: UC in ’09, ’00.
2. Bayern Munich: CL every year, UC in ’08.
3. Hertha Berlin: UC ’01-’07, ’09. CL ’00.
————————————–
4. Stuttgart: CL 04 & 08. UC 05-06, ’09.
5. Hamburg: CL 07, 01. UC 04, 06, ’08-09.
—————————————–
6. Dortmund: UC 09, CL 2000, ’02-’04.
7. Hoffenheim: none (just promoted, in first at break, lost leading scorer).
8. Schalke: CL ’06, 08-09, UC 03-05, 07.
9. Leverkusen: UC 06-08, CL 02-03, 05.
10. Werder Bremen: CL 05-09.
11. Hannover: nothing since 1970.
12. FC Cologne: UC in ’93, 89-91.
13. Eintracht Frankfurt: UC ’07, ’91-95.
14. Monchengladbach: UC ’97.
15. Bochum: UC ’05, ’98.
————————————
Almost every team in Germany above the drop has a recent good run of form in Europe. The only exceptions are Hannover (1970), Cologne (early ’90s), Eintracts (mid 90’s), Gladbach (late 90’s), and newly promoted Hoffenheim, who were challenging this year.
Point being, the Bundesliga isn’t like the EPL. There is upward and downward mobility. Monchengladbach have won more Bundesliga titles than any club save Munich. They have a rich history, though down recently.
Bradley can stay where he is and compete for Europe.
Team (# Europe’s, competitions)
1. Bayern Munich – 5 (CL, UC, CL, CL, CL)
2. Werder Bremen – 5 (CL, CL, CL, CL, CL)
3. Schalke 04 (CL, CL, ??, CL, ??)
4. Hamburg (UC, ??, CL, ??, ??)
5. Wolfsburg (UC, ??, ??, ??, ??)
6. Borussia Dortmund (UC, ??, ??, ??, ??) CL from ’02-’04.
7. Hertha Berlin (UC, ??, ??, ??, ??) CL in 2000.
8. Bayer Leverkusen (??, ??, ??, ??, CL) CL in ’00-’03.
9. Stuttgart (UC, CL, ??, ??, ??)
10. Monchengladbach: UC in ’97.
To coincide with their lifting out of the relegation zone, I have finally been able to properly pronounce their name.
Bradley is a beast, how does he not get his leg broken in two in that picture?
This just proves even more how well EX-RED BULL playeres do after leaving red bull. its “the reverse curse”. He is still the best young player for the USA
Bradley has definitely made some progress during the season, but don’t praise him too much, yet. He does have his weaker moments.
Just to clarify the role of his club a little bit: Gladbach is definitely 4th or 5th club in Germany when it comes to popularity and attendance. Example: yesterday’s match was 600 km away on a weekday evening, and still about 5-6000 Borussia supporters traveled that far. As someone mentioned above, close to 50.000 attend the home matches.
This atmosphere is nothing like he experienced anywhere before, definitely not in Holland or the US. If he puts on a fighting performance in the future he’ll become immortal in Gladbach.
He will grow a lot at Borussia, maybe precisely because of the constant struggle to fight relegation. If they stay in, next season will be no better…
If Monchengladbach manage to stay up this season it would be good for Bradley. He has definitely improved a lot and I hope he can continue playing and improving into the World Cup.
Monchengladbach should bring in some good reinforcements in the off-season. I know they had Onyewu on their sites and since not so long ago he was playing with Dante in the back for Liege, if it happened would be nice.
I hope Monchengladbach and Bradley can keep this up as the season draws to a close.
Jozy and Edu should be on the Confed cup roster, so no Gold Cup.
Torres and Adu in gold cup wold be nice.
I’d like Spector to get serious reps wherever he can.
I like rest of it, but J Johnson won’t sniff a spot anytime soon.
Wpuld love Benny to find his form.
I’ve only seen Gladbach a couple of times, and I’m not impressed. I believe the coach has recently put Bradley deeper in the defensive end and he’s performed well. Their top attacker Marin (although praised by many) is slight and not all that impressive to me. If they don’t add new players, they’ll be fighting relegation again.
bradley has, without question, enjoyed the most improved form out of our entire mnt pool. One could argue that dempsey has had the better season, but i think bradley has improved immensely. The dilemma now is who to play next to him. my contention ranks are as follows
1. Mo Edu – Enjoying a great run of form and seems to have cleaned up his passing, as well as picking up his physical game in the spl.
2. Pablo Mastroeni – Experience and tenacity make him a favorite, but his limited offensive arsenal puts him as my number 2.
3. Jose Torres – Best techically in my opinion out of the three, but his lack of international experience and smaller frame make me wonder how he will deal with big competition.
gold cup will be a great place to gauge these guys. Here’s my gold cup lineup
Formation: 4-5-1
Defenders: LB Jonathan Spector CB Chad Marshall CB Michael Parkhurst RB Marvell Wynne
Midfielders: LM Robbie Rogers LCM Joe Torres RCM Mo Edu CAM Freddy Adu RM Jemal Johnson
Striker: Jozy Altidore
Subs: Benny Feilhaber, Frank Simek, Heath Pearce, Marcus Tracy, Jonathan Bornstein, Kenny Cooper, Eddie Johnson, Charlie Davies, Sasha Klejstian
Remember last year how Fulham pulled off a late season miracle to stay up and now they are close to securing a place in the Europa league next year. It is hard to say what next season will bring if they can keep a good core of players and bring in some reinforcements. Their form has been pretty good the second half of the season.
As far as being a small club remember Moenchengladbach plays every one of their home games in front of 50 thousand fans it isn’t exactly like he is playing in the back woods.
if gladbach do stay up he should stay there at least until the world cup. if he has a good world cup then maybe it would be time for him to step up to a bigger club but for now he needs guaranteed playing time. hopefully gooch will join gladbach in the summer. the bundisliga is a step up from belgium and i think he would be a starter for them.
hopefully ‘gladbach stays up and Bradley will continue to develop and be in good shape for WC2010. Bundesliga is turning up some top teams. 2 German sides in the semi of UEFA Cup and Bayern in quarters of the Champions league. The battle for the league title this year is epic, and it wont be decided til the final matchday.
video of the goal anyone?
If they stay up, it would be intresting if they get Gooch. Although, I wouldn’t mind Gooch staying in Standard Leige another year and maybe play in the Champion Leauge.
I don’t agree with Bellus’ premise, but he didn’t mean Bradley isn’t starting now; he meant the dream big club would give him a chance.
‘gladbach, my 2nd favorite Bundesliga side, all because of an American.
Been a Bayern fan for as long as I remember. Love the competitiveness of the Fussball-Bundesliga. Just wish Bayern were running away with the title but that would make this years title that much more special if the Bavarians could pull it out.
Davies isn’t good enough to start for MNT…not ever
It’s only because his dad is the coach!!!:)
Bradley seems to have cleaned up his game. He tends to commit less fouls, which leads to less yellow cards. Nothing is a bigger liability than guys who accumulate yellow cards every game, well except Michael Orozco.
with the world cup only a little more than a year away i dont think now is the best time for non-fringe players on the USMNT radar to gamble by making a move; whats more important right now is consistent playing time. Its just an added bonus if the playing time is in a league with high level of play, like the bundesliga.
sure it would be great if he played in the premiere league, but if it meant inconsistent playing time or the reserves, then no way should they make the move.
also, see it this way. If bradley is one of the pivotal core members leading the Monchengladbach resurgence, then he may be in prime position for developing the leadership characteristics that we will need out of him for the MNT of the future.
if he were to say, join a team like Everton though, no way would he ever take the captains armband.
They need a TON of help if they’re going to stay up next year too. A defender like Onyewu and a speed option up top, like Davies, are very important if BMG hope to not suck next year. But if they lose Marin, the season may be lost before it even begins.
BellusLudas’ comments are laughable. hes started almost every game since the managerial change and is a huge player for them. no need to move at all.
bundesliga is a quality league. i bet the german and italian leagues have pumped out more world cup champion players than any other league
I certainly have developmed a first rate man crush on michael. He’s not quite at Dempsey’s leve but this kid gets better and better every week. I can’t wait to see him lock people down in the world cup next year. A full year in Bundesliga should accelerate his development even more, if thats possible. I for one, thank his dad for putting him in all those games, whether he deserved it or not.
It really depends on whether ‘Gladbach keep their other young players. Baumjohann was sold to Bayern, unfortunately. If they can keep Marin for 1 more year — and provided they stay in the first division — I’d love to see him stay.
With that said, It looks like Hamburg is going after Marin real strong. I would really like to see them get a good striker too.
Otherwise, a team he’d fit perfect on is Koeln. I’d like to see him transfered there if ‘Gladbach drops.
Bellus – he’s started pretty much every match for the last 3-4 months…that problem is solved.
What he needs is to play well enough to make a move to a big club, not just make these little incremental jumps. If he stays with Gladbach a few years, and becomes indespensable to them, other teams will notice.
He needs to play well enough to get an almost guaranteed starting slot wherever he goes. If he moves to bigger club right away, he’ll just be fighting for playing time again.
Cant wait to hear the haters tell us the only reason they won was because of his dad. Think of the team we would have if the other young talents had the same professional drive as Lil’ Bradley…
MAN UTD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!TEVEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maurice Edu and Michael Bradley, showing that there is no “right” route to success in Europe.
Good on Bradley but BM has two serious teams coming up. Good luck MB & BM.
I’m excited he’s doing well, but I’d like to see him move to England or Italy so I can watch him play – I don’t get GolTV… 😉
Got to make hay while the sun is shining…Bradley needs to take the next step and find a club who:
1. Will qualify for Euro
2. Will give him a real shot at a starting role.
A shining example of USA soccer. Shows you don’t have to go from the MLS to the EPL or La Liga to be be successful. A kid who is on the rise and continues to improve. Will be a rock for the Nats for the next 8 to 10 years.
Its no coincidence that Bradley has stepped up as on of if not the best performers on the USMNT. His experience in the Bundesliga with Moenchengladbach is the reason he is able to step up in WCQ and doesnt play sloppy football. Hopefully he stays in the Bundesliga and continues to improve his quality of play. Unfortunately unless other fellow Americans join him overseas the USMNT will continue to struggle in the World Cup and against European teams.