As a manager you are the leader of a squad and are responsible ultimately for performances.
It may have been fair to criticism the U.S. prior to recent results but manager Bob Bradley deserves credit for some of the moves he made against both Egypt and Spain.
*Against Egypt his move to push Clint Dempsey forward produced the key third goal that helped advance the U.S.
*In the Spain game Bradley pulled off a master move by not changing or disrupting his center back pairing of Jay Demerit and Oguchi Onyewu. Instead he brought back into the fold Carlos Bocanegra and played him at left back where he plays in France in place of Jonathan Bornstein. Bocanegra stayed close to the center-backs and conceded space wide but in the end DeMerit and Onyewu dealt well with crosses from wide areas.
Defending deep was out of necessity and at times it was amazingly thick with white U.S. shirts who really never conceded many clear chances. It was also amazing how deep the U.S. was at times without giving up a goal.
Does Bradley deserve more credit as a manager?
BRAZIL 1 SOUTH AFRICA 0
Brazil advanced to the Confederations Cup final this Sunday with a 1-0 win over South Africa. An amazing Danny Alves free kick was the difference after he came on as a second half sub and scored late. The U.S. will take alot of confidence out of the effort also that South Africa produced against Brazil.
The game will air this Sunday on Espn at 1pm CST ……..
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In my opinion, those were the right moves. I would have been critical of Bradley had he benched DeMerit.
So, does Bradley deserve credit? Yes and No. It’s his job to put our guys in the right places so that we maximize the talent and are in the best position to win. I give him credit for making the proper roster adjustments and fieling a team that showed tremendous effort against Spain. But I also am very critical of him for the way the team looked in the recent WC qualifying matches.
I’d like to see more consistent play and effort.
Hopefully, the good decisions will continue against Brazil.
I think it was an inspired performance from the U.S. players. I don’t think Bradley changed his tactics much. So, I ask how much of the result was Bradley’s coaching and how much of it was a GREAT defensive showing by the players? I think we saw a fired up U.S. team that can compete, hopefully that is what we will continue to see now that we have one hell of a confidence booster. All due respect to Bradley, (I like him as a coach and was not one calling for his head) but to me that was the players responding. Perhaps BB coaxed the performance out of them but if so why havn’t we seen it until now? Fact is this Spain game has to be the beginning of our success, not the height.
Can someone explain to me why Bradley doesn’t give Torres more of a look? He starts for Pachuca and should be able to provide stability in the midfield. He does not even get scrap time. What does the US coaching staff not like about the guy compared to Beasley, Adu etc. I am at a loss. He does not get a Gold Cup callup? What is that all about. The kid should have played for Mexico, just like Alvarez is going with EL Salvador, Rossi for Italy. Their type of player is not appreciated by our National Program.
What an awesome tournament! If we can beat Brazil, that will be the official tide-turner towards making soccer one of the biggest sports in this country. I agree with Carlos. Why has Torres not been given more playing time? I like our lineup, but I like Torres, too. He needs to be given a chance, and hopefully, he’ll get a lot of time in the upcoming tournament.
Carlos Bocanegra at left back, hmmm, I hate to say it but I believe negative Nancy “Keith” actually called for this lineup several weeks ago on the show on 790. Props to Keith!