By FRANCO PANIZO
The U.S. men's national team will take on Turkey in its final game on American soil before the World Cup, and the match should provide head coach Bob Bradley with a real look at his starting eleven.
With the final 23-man roster finalized, Saturday's match at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA (2pm, ESPN2) should help Bradley fine tune his team as it heads towards South Africa. Approximately two weeks separate the United States from its World Cup opener against England, making this friendly a critical one.
"We need to get things right on the field," said Tim Howard. "We need to get all the details and kinks ironed out and you can only do that by getting on the field and working through. You can do bits and pieces in training, but the game is most important."
One of the things Bradley is likely keen to assess is his defense. With three of four starters returning from injury, the Turks should provide a stiff challenge for a unit that has not been completely healthy since last August.
Questions remain about Oguchi Onyewu's race to brush off the rustiness picked up during his seven month injury spell. There is also uncertainty about how Carlos Bocanegra will cope, having come off of hernia surgery earlier this month.
"It's imperative as a goalkeeper you get together and pull the strings and get those guys tight and on the right page," Howard said. "It is important. We saw that last summer, we saw that the last three years. These guys have had a few injuries, and (Onyewu) is coming back from one and Carlos and Jay (DeMerit). We all need to get on the field and feel good about ourselves and put in a good performance."
If Onyewu or Bocanegra struggle, Bradley could turn to Maurice Edu, who played the final 24 minutes of Tuesday's friendly against the Czech Republic at centerback. Bradley will use the match to gauge his starters, but having the luxury of experimenting in a game where the result doesn't matter is a fact likely not lost on the coach.
"If he does (experiment), this is the time," said Jozy Altidore. "These games are the perfect time. There is no consequence. You don't lose points in these games."
Whether Bradley opts to tinker with his lineup or not, playing Turkey in the final match of the send-off series will likely prove a good measuring stick for the United States.
"We need a stern test, we need a strong test," said Howard. "We don't want to go into South Africa with any questions. We want to feel like we've done all the right things."
———-
What do you think of Saturday's game? What will you be looking for? Think the back four will produce a solid outing? Do you see the U.S. national team winning?
Neither do I. I think MLS is important and will always make some contribution to the national team. But it’s also irrefutable that an increasingly greater proportion of the team is coming from abroad. I think that within the next 8-12 years, the MLS representation on US World Cup squads will settle down to about 2-3 players.
As a side note, your prediction on the “European economy” is silly (what of the American economy?), and I don’t think it has anything to do with this discussion.
We have seen Torres and Bradley.
They played the first half of the Netherlands game. Torres was so memorable you forgeot how he nearly scored a beautiful own goal on Howard and got trampled into the turf by the Dutch. He did take a long shot at the Dutch goal but was way off. Overall not very impressive from Gringo.
There is no Bradley Jr. on the USMNT.
Michael Bradley, on the other hand, plays every minute because he is pretty consistent, plays his club ball at a high level and, he shows up. The other MF’s always get sick, lose form or get hurt. Bradley, you can count on to be there.
If you think Bob Bradley plays his son for nepostistic reasons then take notice of the fact that BB made a lot of effort to keep hope alive for Jermaine Jones, even after it seemed clear he wasn’t going to make the roster. Jones is the one guy in the pool who could instantly, if healthy and in form, give the US the mdifield “boss’ it seriously needs and does not have.
And he would seriously threaten Michael’s PT.
I was at the Czech game in CT. (with on-the-field seats) and I saw a US team (of course without its star players) that played hard but couldn’t get the job done.
I think this Turkey game will, of course, give us a much better idea of where we stand as a team right now.
Most of the players were very gracious with the kids that waited for autographs after the game. My 11 year old son was so very, very happy to get signatures from his heroes Donovan, Dempsey, Howard, Bocanegra, Torres, Beasley, Gooch, Altidore and Clark.
He missed getting ink from a few of his heroes… Coach Bradley, Michael Bradley, Holden, Feilhaber, DeMerit, Cherundolo, and Spector.
Thank you so much guys… you really made a great night even better for my son. These are memories that he’ll cherish the rest of his life.
After leaving the team buses and walking to our tailgating area, my son continued kicking his ball around until the parking lot cleared…that was about midnight. You guys have created a monster. His goal is now to play for the USMNT. Look for him in 2018.
So if the US did not play that way they would suddenly turn into a goal scoring machine?
Would you care to tell me how that would work?
If you go by how Bayern looked in the Champion’s league final and realize they won’t have Robben and Van Bommel but will have Schweinsteiger (unfortunately for them) then you can’t get real excited about Germany. But they always figure out a way to go further than you think they should.
I would play Gomez in the first game with the understanding that it’s just because he seems to be on a real hot streak and I want to see just how hot he is. If he can continue to impress even in the first game of the World Cup he stays in. If not he’s out.
Or me. I learned plenty!!!
Some people never learn…
Hey, all you naysayers!!! Don’t Tread!
Before the 23 were chosen, several players, such as Tim Howard, who can and has said anything he wants, said that Findley was having a remarkable camp, one of the best. It seems like he showed up on a mission.
I saw him at the Netherlands game and remembered thinking that maybe some guy in the stands had mugged Findley and stolen his kit and somehow snuck on the field. Based on that game I wouldn’t pick Findley for a Sunday league side. But one game isn’t the be all and end all of a man’s career. We don’t know if there was something else going on that caused him to play that way. That is the hard part of being a national team coach. It is often very hard to find a long enough run of games to evaluate a new player properly.
Everyone who bashes Bob seems to forget these personnel decisions will positvely or negatively affect him more than anyone else on the planet. So while I’m not sure I would have taken Findley rather than EJ ( who was in my view, the Findley alternative. Ching lost out to Buddle), I’m very sure he had a really, really good reason to do so.
And he has more info on the situation than you or I. Like I said just because you don’t know why Bob did something, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a good reason for it. It just means that you don’t know what the reason is.
I’m no economist or finacial expert but I think its possible the European economy causes a lot of european clubs to go bust in the next few years. Hardly a wild and crazy prediction, especially if you look and see just how flimsy the financial underpinnings are for so many of these European clubs.
As much as everyone on this board seems to think the MLS is something to scrape off the bottom of their shoe, it seems to be doing quite well and that stability will eventually start drawing more and more top talent. In addition you may see it getting harder and harder for Americans and foreigners to get work permits in the top leagues.
The bottom line is don’t think you can get rid of the MLS influence on the USMNT so easily.
Did you notice that England won anyway? What does that tell you?
He played forward for the Terps, center back in the Olympics and plays midfield for the Rangers. He is young, very athletic and has proven to be quite versatile and adaptable. There isn’t one good reason why he couldn’t eventually be a fine centerback, if that was where he is most needed. Remember he volunteered for this a few weeks ago.
To pigeon hole him this early because he does poorly in one game is insane.
“When will he get any playing time from now until the Cup?”
Maybe he won’t
” Why play him in front of Gomez or Buddle who are in-form?”
When did he play in front of Gomez or Buddle? Did Bradley say he was in front of Gomez or Buddle?
Has it ever occurred to you that Findley has already played a number of times for Bradley this year and so he knows more about Findley than he does about Gomez or Buddle?
Just because you don’t understand something Bob does, it doesn’t mean he is an idiot.
We may not quite be there by 2014 (and as the standard of MLS rises, top MLS players aren’t a bad way to fill out the roster), but we’re certainly moving in that direction. Compare the number of Euro-based players on the last few WC teams and there’s a clear upward trend
What?
What?