I know I Keep Talking About This But...

I know I keep talking about this but it really is sad to be a US Soccer fan at this moment in time. The recent string of qualifying games, plus this awful string of performances at the Confederation's Cup in South Africa make me ill. I don't even know where to begin with where to place the blame, as there are allot of people to point fingers at, but I think it has to start with the head coach and his staff.

I truly believe that BOB BRADLEY HAS TO GO. From a tactical point of view, I have seen better organization on my Sunday league team than I have seen from us in recent weeks. I think Jamie Trekker said it best in his blog that the Americans were a formless, shapeless mess, an amoeba of men on the field." I know that there is talent on that team and it seems like at any time there are just 11 guys out there on the field running around with very little knowledge of what they are as a unit. On some level it pays to be fit and to be able to out last your opponents, but what good is that fitness if you are always chasing the game. You can't honestly watch us play and figure out a style of play, and that lies at the coaches feet. At least with Bruce Arena there you knew were gonna go out there work hard and play for the opportunistic goal, but now it doesn't even seem as if we have that.

We are not a defensive minded team like the Greeks, we are not a possession team like the Spaniards, and sadly we don't even look like the Egyptians who are a very hard working team, which used to be our trademark. The last few games defensively we have given up an early wasteful goal, and more often than not, not been able to recover from the early goal. Had it not been for the heroics of Tim Howard, the scorelines in each game would have been far worse. Sunil Gulati as President of the US Soccer Federation has to take a good hard look at where we are now and where we need to be if we are to ever challenge for a world title or at least not get embarrassed in South Africa next year and beyond.

As I said I know there is talent on this team, but good coaches know how to get the best out of their players and its obvious that this is not the case with Bob Bradley. A good example of that is Clint Dempsey. I watched him play allot this year on television for his club Fulham n England and his performances were that of a player who knew that he had to fight every minute of every game in order to stay on the field, as a bad performance would see him relegated to the bench. His runs were good, he works hard, and there was even a well worked goal or two from time to time. When you watch him play for the US, the same level is just no there. While he still works hard, his runs are often misplace, he never seems to get close to the target, and he constantly gives away possession in or around midfield. If he were to give a similar effort for his club, Roy Hodgson would have him playing for the reserves. Signs of a player that knows that no matter how badly he plays, he will still get picked. Which brings up my next point about why Bradley continues to select Damarcus Beasley for national team duty when its obvious his best days are behind him. How awful does he have to play in order for the coaching staff to realize this?

I just don't think that Bradley has yet to grasp an understanding of coaching this team away from the comforts of home on US soil and in the friendly confines of CONCACAF. In MLS and on home soil you can probably get good performances from Donovan when he is deployed as a striker, due to the weak competition, but put him against a quality defender that forces him to play with his back to the goal and he will struggle to find the ball. He is at his best when he gets the opportunity to run at defenders and use his speed. A part of me hopes that Egypt mops the floor with us tomorrow as that is what it will take for Sunil Gulati to make a change. We as US soccer fans deserve better. And if you think I am crazy, lets just take a look at the US Women's National Soccer team. We don't just expect those girls to go out and have a decant showing at tournaments, they are expected to win each and every tournament they are involved in and I think its time we took the same approach with the Men's team. Greg Ryan actually had a string of good performances and an overall good record when he was the women's national team coach, but a few bad decisions that contributed to a 4-0 loss to Brazil in the 2007 World Cup and Ryan was out on his ass. This was a guy who as coach from 2005 to 2007 compiled a 45-1-9 record as coach, yet he was on his on the unemployment line after that tournament.

In short I think we have gone as far as Bradley can take us, and its not too late to make a change. We are going to qualify simply due to the fact that we are one of the top teams in CONCACAF, but if we want to avoid the embarrassment of the Confederations cup for this time next year at the World Cup, then a change has to be made. There are a few qualified candidates out there with the experience and know how to take us to the next level. Juergan Klinsmann and Gordan Strachan to name a few.