Comments on: Confederations Cup: MLS Heavy Squad Required?

By: bertpatenaude

bertpatenaude — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:18:04 +0000

Qualifiers are the top priority here, and with VERY few exceptions our best players are on European clubs, so Papa Bradley has that right. Katrik is funny in a sad way because of his cluelessness… Did MLS pay him to write this nonsense? I coughed beer out of my nose when he listed Ralston among our best players and when he suggested an A League keeper as someone who should be in the mix. Holy Smokes! On top of it all, Katrik is a very mediocre writer. I hope that he does better with his day job.

we need help in the back. time to bring whitbread into the picture… los can play LB (this beasley experiment is frightening), zak in the middle next to gooch, with frankie on the right. deuce is our rm and best player, with jr and edu in the center mid (not the most creative, I know, but serious presence), and landy cakes on the left. jozy and ching as strikers, and tim in goal. that is the best we can hope for. yaba daba doo… but on the road in latin america, expect mastroeni to start over edu and captain the side. i also think that josh wolff deserves a spot in confed and qualifiers, on the bench, but his greatest moment came off the bench in columbus in la guerra fria… papa bb is right to be conservative and go euro top heavy… let the mls dregs strut their stuff in the gold cup.

By: Joey Clams

Joey Clams — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:47:44 +0000

Sou não. Mas fiquei preso por cinco anos no Bangú dois. Morou?

By: Brazilian Fan

Brazilian Fan — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:35:58 +0000

Joey: Yep, you’re right!

By the way, are you brazilian too?

cheers

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:00:36 +0000

US Squad for Confederations Cup (23 Players):

GK: Howard
Backups: Guzan, Perkins

DEF: Hejduk, Onyewu, Bocanegra, Pearce
Backups: Cherundolo, Conrad, Parkhurst

MID: Dempsey, Bradely, Mastroeni, Donovan
Backups: Kljestan, Feilhaber, Adu, Beasley, Lewis

FW: Cooper, Altidore
Backups: Ching, Wolff

Starting Formation:
————-How.————-
-Hej.—Ony.—Boc.—Pea.-
————-Mas.————-
-Dem.——Bra.——Don.-
———Alt.——————-
——————-Coo.——–

Bench (7 Players):
Guzan, Cherundolo, Conrad, Kljestan, Adu, Beasley, Ching

By: larry

larry — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:33:28 +0000

I actually agree and disagree with Joey.

We’ll lose at Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico for sure.

But by winning all our home games we finish at least third.

So what does that prove?

Simply that we aren’t very good and that Bradley has simply continued the failure of the late Arena years.

I am all for Kartik’s idea of new blood. The El Salvador match should have provided beyond a reasonable doubt that depending on European based players during European season is a huge mistake. The players come into camp tired and don’t give a full effort mentally or physically. They depart after the game and don’t think again about the national team until their next call up.

At least with MLS guys or maybe even a USL guy or two they’ll fight like hell every time they put the shirt on.

By: Joey Clams

Joey Clams — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:46:33 +0000

Jon: Well, I said that they’d be lucky to end up playing Conmebol’s number 5, which, I suppose, is an indirect way of saying that they’ll finish fifth. I didn’t mean that, really. But don’t be surprised if we finish FOURTH.

We will lose to Honduras here. We will lose at Costa Rica. And we lose at Mexico. That’s three straight losses. I can also see us dropping points at home to Costa Rica. We will lose at Honduras. Who knows what we can get at Trinidad? The team is not that good. Upgrades have been minimal. And Bradley doesn’t have a clue.

At a certain level, it could be the best thing for us. Don’t be surprised if it happens.

By: Joey Clams

Joey Clams — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:40:21 +0000

Brazilian Fan: You’re right. Joga bonito means “you play beautifully” OR “play beautifully.” I left out the simple declarative option because what the heck kind of slogan would that be? Technically, as a command it should correspond with “tu,” not “você,” but Brazilian Portuguese allows for that blurring. The thing is, as you know, you never here any of that “jogo bonito” stuff from Brazilians. The expression has been expropriated by those who enjoy the myths of Brazilian soccer. I don’t know how comfortable Nike would be with some of the true Brazilian soccer battle cries.

By: eplnfl

eplnfl — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:00:37 +0000

Kartik, your point is well made here. It is my belief and I think Bradley’s bad position, not of his doing, btw, that he just can not take the MLS players he would like. The league would suffer and he knows that next summer players well hopefully be gone for quite a while in South Africa.

Thanks for putting out Tim Wards name as a possible call up. As a Fire fan I’d love to see him called up, but imho he is too limited once he leaves his defensive role. Maybe he can get some some time later to show his stuff. While he is not a teenage sensation he has a lot of years left to be of value to the national team. On the other hand the Fire have the ability to replace him if he is called up, which other teams do not. Ok, so lets give him a chance.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:24:57 +0000

Joey Clams,

Are you delusional? Lucky to finish 5th in the WCQ tourney? Based on what?

By: Brazilian Fan

Brazilian Fan — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:47:42 +0000

Joey, actually depends what do you want to say. “Jogo Bonito” means beatifull game, even if people down here dont use this expression that much. “Joga Bonito” means that you play beautifull. The right expression should be “Você Joga Bonito”. Thats what Nike uses. By the way, joga bonita or jogo bonita dont exist. Bonita is a feminine word, dont use it with verbs.

cheers