U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati announced today that Bob Bradley has been relieved of his duties as the head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team.
Grant Wahl: Bradley era ends as U.S. stagnates
Martin Rogers: Klinsmann may finally be next U.S. soccer coach
Martin Rogers: Gold Cup loss was final nail for Bradley
Steve Davis: New coach won't lack for tasks
4 comments:
craig - 'bout friggin' time
I agree, it's time for a change, but remember what he did accomplish.
Wahl says it best: Bradley isn't going out the way he wanted to, but he achieved several impressive feats during his tenure. In 2010, the U.S. won a World Cup group for the first time in the modern era (ahead of England, by the way). Bradley's Yanks also defeated world No. 1 Spain in the 2009 Confederations Cup semifinals and won the CONCACAF hexagonal qualifying tournament for World Cup 2010. The U.S. beat Mexico in the 2007 Gold Cup final, one of four finals Bradley reached in the six tournaments he coached the U.S. team. (The U.S. lost in the other three finals: two Gold Cups and the Confed Cup.) When you look at the clubs where the U.S. players ply their trade, it's fair to say that Bradley's teams often punched above their weight.
craig - i would argue that the players (despite never being the correct configuration of 11) have improved in quality so much over the last two decades that they accomplished all that on the pitch. i believe that regardless of coach, those results would be/are possible for the u.s.
I'm going to provide the meta-view from pundits over the last few years: Bradley is a failure. He hasn't elevated the USMT talent pool to be equal to Spain, he didn't beat Brazil with his B team in meaningless friendlies, he didn't pick the formation I would have picked, he always picked his kid and it had nothing to do with Mike's talent, he never developed a striker as good as _____, he won the Gold Cup but everyone knows that it's a joke, he only finished second in the Confederations Cup, he never won the World Cup. Klinsman would have done all of that and made me a coffee. Jamie Trecker must be jumping for joy, he told us all along and now we know he was right.
Bob, I'm sorry you were continually beaten with a stick of unrealistic expectation and ignorance. Now please come back and coach the Fire.
Post a Comment