Bradley Just Keeps On Working

In most countries, the day after an embarrassing loss at home would bring with it a wave of calls for the coach to be fired. Not here in the United States where some people, actually many people, are trying to pretend there were supposedly some positives to pull out of Saturday nights dismantling at the feet of Honduras.

So, in the spirit of peer pressure…I will jump on board as well.

I’m positive that Kyle Beckerman is one of the worst players I have ever seen wear a United States National Team jersey. What does he do? Break up a couple of plays and give the ball away all day? Do you know how many millions of players we have in the U.S. that are capable of that? At least give somebody else a chance to do it so that we could give out some new caps.

I’m positive that Bob Bradley has no system. I read that he plays a flat four…okay, and then what? That doesn’t mean he has a system, it means he knows how to put players in a formation. Formation and system are two entirely different things. The U.S. has no system…to say that we play athletically isn’t a system or a tactic, it’s nothing. Of course we’re athletic, they’re pro athletes! Saying a soccer player is athletic is simply a polite way of saying that they can’t play.

I’m positive that the United States will not advance to the second round of the World Cup unless a coaching change is made now. Our players commit stupid red card fouls, we give the ball away all day long…we get smoked by teams like Honduras. How much more would our players have to bring to the table everyday if the coach were Jurgen Klinnsman. Or how many fresh faces would an American coach like Sigi Schmid bring in that would push for spots?

I’m positive that the expectation in this country still needs to be raised on our players. The days are long gone that our national team players are attending college classes during the week. These guys now are all full time pros and we can expect them to play as such. Not being able to hold the ball in tight spaces, or constantly giving the ball to the OTHER teams feat are all examples of players who simply aren’t good enough to play at the international level. Who has Coach Bob found that he brought in and has had a great impact? Nobody…

I’m positive that being critical (not just negative) is the best way to grow the sport in the United States. I’m an American, I’ve been involved in this game for over 35 years and have seen the good and the bad. We need to stop always looking at the glass half full.

In order to compete with the best, you need the best coaches. Do we have that? No, we don’t…why don’t we go get it? Because we’re afraid to bring in a guy who knows what he’s doing to tell us everything that we’re doing is wrong.

So don’t do it then…but do something. Call Seattle today and tell them that you want Sigi Schmid to interview for the U.S. National Team job. Then give Sigi whatever he wants and sit back and hope that he can save this thing before it’s too late. Because time is running out.

–Mark Lincir