February 26, 2010

Bob Bradley has spent the last few years examining the U.S. talent pool for the national team. His last look at a record number of fringe players came on Wednesday with the national team friendly against El Salvador.

Without the full strength side at his disposal, Bradley looked at players he felt he may need for South Africa in certain situations. Each of the players that took the pitch at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, was a player who had everything to prove and nothing to lose.

At the forefront of the hype were the strikers, Robbie Findley, Conor Casey, Jeff Cunningham and Brian Ching. Everyone in U.S. soccer is anxiously awaiting the announcement of the roster to see who Bradley intends to pair Jozy Altidore with. In the end, the list of suspects may have been trimmed by a name or two.

Casey and Findley got the start in this one but did little to impress. Findley’s speed is his biggest attribute but he fails to make it pay off consistently. In his last two national team outings, Findley hasn’t been able to pose a real threat to opposition that is a fraction of the caliber of the competition he’d have to face this summer. There’s something wrong with his knee at the present time, however, so perhaps Bradley will take that into consideration when thinking about Findley. How his in MLS season goes will be big for his national team future.

“I think it wasn’t Robbie’s best night quite frankly,” Bradley said. “He had some good moments in terms of movement and creating opportunities. He’s still a player that we think has some really good qualities and now we have to find ways to push him along.”

Conor Casey has scored goals on the big stage. Obviously his brace against Honduras in qualifying was a massive boost to the U.S. campaign, but whether or not Casey can do it with any kind of consistency is another matter. He struggles to impose his will on the game and at times he appears to be wandering around the pitch as a spectator. In this one, Casey did little to throw his name in the ring for debate over a trip to South Africa.

Brian Ching came on for Casey just after the beginning of the second half and made a case for himself to get back into national team mix. With questions still swirling about Ching’s knee, he put any doubt to bed with both his 75^th minute equalizer and while answering questions after the game.

“My knee is good, it’s absolutely 100%,” Ching said. “It was my goal four years ago to put myself in a position to play in the World Cup. The last time I was disappointed that I couldn’t really make an impact but I’ve positioned myself well and if I can keep playing well in whatever games I get into I’ll hopefully have a shot at it.”

Hometown boy Jeff Cunningham saw action at the end of the game but was unable to provide much more than a few crosses. His best chance at goal saw Cunningham barely make contact. As Bradley said before, however, it’s not just this performance that determines his potential to play in the World Cup group so we may not have seen the last of him.

In the end it was midfielders playing the biggest part in this one. Sacha Klejstan sent home the winner while Eddie Gaven came off the bench at the start of the second half injecting energy into the right side of the American attack.

“I just wanted to go out and put in some hard work,” Gaven said. “It’s been a good five weeks with this team. Maybe there is a position open for me in the team this summer and maybe not. All I can do is just go out and give the best performance possible.”

Klejstan pounced on an opportunity when he saw it at the end of the game for the winner and was able to make up for some horribly missed opportunities in the first half.

“I felt like I was a lot better tonight than I was against Honduras,” Klejstan said. “They were playing around with the ball a lot in the back and on the game winner I thought the guy had his head down. I was able to pick his pocket and Ching played me a good ball back through. I had some chances in the first half that I wasn’t able to take so it felt good to make up for it in the end.”

It wasn’t a dominate performance nor was it a crucial victory for the U.S. but it was good for the team to win and get some confidence before the MLS players head to training camp and Bradley heads to Holland for a friendly next week that will see him use mostly overseas based players.

“I think that there are a lot of positives to come out of this game and out of the last month in camps,” Bradley said. “Decisions for who will be in the squad for Holland will be made not just based on this game. You have to remember that we’ve had these guys away from their club teams for a while and we have two opportunities here to look at players. In some cases we may want to see someone else play and that doesn’t mean necessarily that a guy who didn’t make the squad next week has dropped down a little bit.”

The second half of Bradley’s statement could mean that we may see in Holland, a player that many U.S. fans have been curious about over the last few years. Jermaine Jones of Schalke 04 in Germany has proven his abilities in the Bundesliga and rumors around the press box indicate that Bradley would like to take the player to South Africa. If that's the case, he could be the only player ever to suit up for the U.S. in a World Cup having never played for the team previously. He, however, won't be available against Holland as he is still recovering from injury.

On the defensive side, Jonathon Bornstein impressed at the center back position and while Bradley recognized the Chivas USA man’s ability to play there, he didn’t speculate that Bornstein would see time there this summer.

“We’ve seen that Jonny can play center back especially at Chivas USA,” Bradley said. “But in the World Cup it’s about how a player matches up against certain types of strikers so we’d have to see what the situation dictates. It’s not always the biggest center back that walks away with the trophy but at the same time we’ve seen some really big strong strikers over the last few years. Whether or not he would see any time in the at centerback is a question we can’t answer right now.”

Comments (1)

You know you're a US National Team Soccer Player If...
written by D-Wreck, March 25, 2010

As you know I'm a huge fan of the USMNT, but I am adding a little humor to the media approach to the team...

I hope you enjoy this comedic look at "You Know You're a US National Team Soccer Player if..."

and this coming weekend I will be interviewing Bob Bradley...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNOejZ_Wv1I

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment