3. Is a more veteran team a better team?

Photo by C.A.M. Stephans

By now you have probably heard the Bob Bradley deadline of May 23 to announce his call-ups for the U.S. National Team. This is a critical call-up, as not only will these players play in the 2011 Gold Cup but also in the friendly versus Spain.  As such, Bob Bradley will likely go the opposite of Camp Cupcake and take a veteran lineup to Foxborough.

But should he?  What should be the goals of the US Men’s National Team, June 2011 edition?  I’d argue the following should be the goals of Bob Bradley’s squad, in this order:

1. Win the Gold Cup and punch the ticket to the Confederations Cup
2. Begin finding the players for the 2014 World Cup
3. Not embarrass the country in the Spain match

In order to do this, Bob Bradley should bring a mix of veterans and up-and-comers, and in the process take a few gambles with this team.  Here are my suggestions by position for Coach Bradley, as well as a few predictions of who he will actually bring.  Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments section:

Keepers He Should Bring: Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann, and Bill Hamid

Keepers He Will Bring: Howard, Hahnemannn, and David Yeldell

Until he proves otherwise, Tim Howard is the #1 keeper for this team and that will not change during the World Cup. The #2 keeper should be someone with experience who can step in during an emergency, so Hahnemann fits that profile as he transitions from Europe to MLS.  Brad Guzan is seemingly on the outs with Bradley plus scheduled his wedding for the end of this month.  Bradley could go with David Yeldell to continue the German connection but could again give Dominic Cervi a chance to earn a place on the team, despite the fact he can’t even get a start for his club team.  One day Howard will be too old to play for this team, and the US needs to begin planning for that now.  The final spot should go to a young stud who should begin to be groomed to be the next Tim Howard; the two MLS candidates right now are Sean Johnson and Bill Hamid, with Hamid getting the call due to having a better season so far.

Defenders He Should Bring: (starters) Tim Chandler, Oguchi Onyewu, Clarence Goodson, Carlos Bocanegra, (bench) Steve Cherundolo, Zak Whitbread, Tim Ream, Jonathan Bornstein, Chad Marshall

Defenders He Will Bring: (starters) Cherundolo, Goodson, Onyewu, Bocanegra, (bench) Chandler, Bornstein, Ream, Whitbread, Eric Lichaj

The backline is up in the air, but you can bet Bradley will go conservative here.  The U.S.’s biggest problem has been conceding early goals, so Bradley will likely thwart this by throwing out a veteran lineup.  My thought is that the Gold Cup is put up or shut up time for two U.S. defenders – Tim Chandler and Gooch.  Gooch is coming back from injury and it’s time to see if he can be an international starting defender before 2014 qualification.  Tim Chandler took the soccer scene by storm with a good showing against Paraguay; now’s a good time to see if he can maintain the hype.

Midfielders He Should Bring: (4-2-3-1) Michael Bradley, Jonathan Spector, Landon Donovan, Mikkel Diskerud, Clint Dempsey, (bench) Benny Feilhaber, Brek Shea, Alejandro Bedoya

Midfielders He Will Bring: (4-4-2) Donovan, Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Dempsey, (bench) Edu, Feilhaber, Bedoya, Jonathan Spector

I have always been a believer in the U.S. playing with 5 midfielders, with Bradley and Spector alternating between making advancing runs and playing back in the holding role.  Donovan and Dempsey are locks to start but the U.S. needs someone with vision and talent to make the right pass to get the wings and forward the ball in scoring chances.  Although young, Diskerud has shown flashes of this ability and he should get a chance now.  If nothing else, a call-up binds him to the U.S.  On the bench, Brek Shea has shown the ability to be a world class midfielder, with FC Dallas’ recent good run of form showing how good Shea can be.  Bradley, however, will probably fall back into the comfortable 4-4-2 and keep his standards in the midfield.  The bench for Bradley will also be experienced, with players we’ve seen before who have specific talents for specific scenarios.

Forwards He Should Bring: Teal Bunbury, Jozy Altidore, Chris Wondolowski

Forwards He Will Bring: Altidore, Juan Agudelo, Herculez Gomez

Let’s be ambitious.  If Bradley plays a 4-2-3-1, he needs a lone striker type, something Altidore is not.  He is talented enough to make the team, but he needs a second forward up front with him.  Agudelo could be that guy, but he is in danger of over-exposure and over-use this year.  Let’s see if Bunbury is as good internationally or better than Agudelo.  In the same vein, let’s give Chris Wondolowski one more chance.  The guy can score in MLS, so let’s see if he can do the same for the national team.

Seven or eight games into the season and teams begin to take a hard look at their position at the table.  It’s still too early to declare teams out of the race especially with a 34 game schedule, but the table is beginning to shake out and as the next few weeks go by, teams that are underachieving find themselves farther and farther away from the playoffs or their team’s preseason goals.  At this point, management takes a hard look at the head coach and tries to figure out if a new man would make a difference and inspire the team to go on a run.

So today let’s take a look at five head coaches who are starting to feel a little warm on the bench and should either be thinking about updating their resume or shaking up the lineup.  Managers are ranked in order of how close they are to being unemployed by their current club, but feel free to vote in the poll and share your thoughts in the comments section:

5. Robert Warzycha, Columbus Crew: Early in the year, the heat was rising around Sigi Schmid’s former assistant as Warzycha had no place for Robbie Rogers, lost in the CONCACAF Champions League and looked impotent early in the season.  A team record shutout streak and a nice undefeated streak later, the heat has been turned down immensely on Warzycha.  Yet the team is walking a fine line – they are tied for the second fewest goals scored this year and their offense is still not clicking 100%.  Adrés Mendoza is still not playing up to his DP contract and if the team’s defense falters, this team could find themselves sliding down the standings.  For a franchise with such a storied history in a conference with only one dominant team, that would be unacceptable, so Warzycha is walking a fine line.

4.  Steve Nicol, New England Revolution: The Liverpool legend and once-future USMNT head coach is someone I think could make the jump to England and manage a top-flight side in the near future.  But currently his seat in Foxborough is getting a little toasty.  The Revs are a team that have seen tough times in recent years after a great run in the beginning of last decade.  With the addition of Benny Feilhaber, a scoring threat the team was seeking since the beginning of the season, they have the talent to compete for one of the three automatic playoff spots.  But remember this team went through the process of a rebuild at the beginning of the year, and if they begin to falter management may begin to look in a new direction.

3.  Peter Vermes, Sporting Kansas City: There are plenty of excuses for Sporting KC’s struggles, beginning with their extended road trip and obvious rebuilding effort.  But don’t let the excuses cloud the way this team is playing right now – they have given up the third highest number of goals and have vacillated between terrible defense with potent offense and stout defense with lacking offense.  Vermes is one of the new wave of MLS coaches who were the league’s first stars, and he may be one of the first ones to learn that being on the bench may come with more pressure than being on the field.

2. Frank Yallop, San Jose Earthquakes: The former MLS Coach of the Year is hitting hard times this season.  Arguably a goal away from making the finals last year, the ‘Quakes have stumbled badly this year.  Their offense is weak even with Wondo (they’ve scored the second fewest goals) and their last three results are arguably all bad losses (blown out by New York, beaten at home by Chivas, and 1-0 loss to 10-man Philadelphia).  This team looks disorganized and it may take a new direction to right the ship.

1.  Carlos de los Cobos, Chicago Fire: This is only the Mexican head coach’s second season, but the Fire are not showing any signs of hope.  Last season they finished fourth in a weak East and this season, despite a quick start, they have begun a slide down the standings.  The backline is reorganized practically every game, the team scores but leaks goals like a sieve, and there is no direction to the franchise.  If Chicago can’t get results in their next two very winnable games, de los Cobos may be the first manager let go.

Photo by nicksarebi

Quite possibly this has been one of the darkest weeks in MLS in a long time.  David Ferreira is gone for a while, Steve Zakuani’s situation is even worse, the league handed out the longest suspension in its history, Seattle is suffering even more with O’Brian White’s surgery, and RSL suffered a gut-punch defeat.  All of this overshadowed a good weekend of action and threatens to overshadow what is a good slate of games this weekend.

Fortunately not all is dark and gloomy in American soccer; here are some of the more up-beat stories not covered this week:

• Big news from London where it was made official: the Red Bulls will be participating in the 2011 Emirates Cup this summer.  Joining them will be hosts Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, and Boca Juniors.  The Red Bulls will face PSG on July 30th and Arsenal the next day.  That is an incredible schedule.
• Congratulations to Clint Dempsey whose two goals this week moved him up to #1 on the Fulham all-time EPL scoring list, passing fellow American Brian McBride.  Dempsey has 33 goals for his Fulham career but he noted after the game that his goals secured enough points for Fulham to stay in the EPL next season.
• Congratulations to another American abroad.  Stuart Holden won the Bolton Wanderers’ Supporters’ Association player of the year award despite missing part of the season due to injury.
• When DC United visits Houston tonight, there will be a special ceremony honoring former Dynamo keeper and current DCU coach/player Pat Onstad for his illustrious career in Texas.  He played in 136 games for the Dynamo and was a fan favorite, although he is unlikely to start.
• Twitter has been awash with the social media battle between Teal Bunbury and Juan Agudelo.  I do not want to bias anyone, so check out their “feud” here.
• New England seems to be revving up (sorry couldn’t resist) at the right time.  First they pick up Benny Feilhaber and now their injured offseason signing may be match fit.  Ousmane Dabo played 76 minutes in New England’s 3-2 win over DC United in the U.S. Open Cup this week, and although Steve Nicol didn’t have a timetable for him to crack the starting XI, the midfielder looked good in his debut.

Photo by Ryan Healy

A great weekend for MLS soccer was overshadowed by some high-profile injuries that may close the door on some struggling teams.  Meanwhile, the top of the pack looked stronger: Donovan’s return coupled with New York’s victory Thursday has two of the big name teams clicking on all cylinders at the moment and threatening to open a divide in the standings.  The East is still the East – three teams will take the playoff spots but no one’s sure who and in what order.

But the big takeaway from this weekend is, of course, Lambeau Leaps are not allowed in MLS.  Here’s your weekend recap:

Seattle Sounders 1, Colorado Rapids 0: We’ve covered the match and implications in-depth on this site, but I can’t emphasize enough how big of an impact Zakuani’s injury is on the Sounders.  Fredy Montero looked to be on his way back to form and they finally looked to be clicking on offense at least.  Now they have to replace one of their best playmakers.  Their schedule over the next few weeks is critical: Toronto, Portland, Kansas City and Dallas at home; traveling to DC and Columbus.  This is not murderers row, but the kind of schedule that could show us if Seattle are contenders or pretenders this year.  Look for a Colorado post this week to talk about their travails.

Toronto FC 1, Columbus Crew 1: I mentioned last week that Columbus is facing an easier part of the schedule, and if they want to be considered a playoff contender, they need to win these type of games.  Instead, they settled for a draw and only after Toronto were down to ten men.  Tony Tchani’s celebration made it clear that MLS officials will not tolerate goal celebrations off the pitch; players be warned.  The Toronto goal snapped the Crew’s impressive scoreless streak and gives some hope to a side that was pretty down after last week’s loss.

Chivas USA 2, San Jose 1: This is a bad, bad loss for San Jose.  While Chivas got a long deserved win, this is the kind of match San Jose needs to win to be considered a playoff team.  They are winless in their last four and while losing to New York last week is no disgrace, losing at home to the Goats arguably is.  An additional footnote, this match was the first time this season an MLS team came from one goal down to win a match.  Chivas is also now undefeated in their last four matches.

FC Dallas 2, Vancouver Whitecaps 1: Dallas may have won the battle but in the process lost the war.  The home side looked like they were finally gathering some momentum this season and beginning to play as well as they should be; Brek Shea was even returning to the right side of the midfield.  Credit to the team for rallying for a win after David Ferreira went off with a broken ankle, but make no mistake this is a serious blow.  He is their best playmaker and one of the best in MLS.  For the ‘Caps, it was another blown lead and another yellow card for Eric Hassli, who will miss their next match due to this card being his fifth.

New England Revolution 3, Sporting Kansas City 2: So many storylines, so little space.  Let’s start with Benny Feilhaber’s debut in MLS: he played the whole match and assisted on the Marco Perovic goal.  He also was responsible for the red card to Aurélien Collins: the KC defender and Revs midfielder got into a tussle after Collins collided with Matt Reis.  While KC fans may argue it was unjust, Collins was sent to the showers with a straight red.  The Revs also saw Steve Nicol’s newest formation – Shalrie Joseph playing as a forward, not a midfielder, to provide support up top for Lekic.  Kansas City, meanwhile, needs some help on defense.  The team’s backline leaks like a sieve and cannot keep giving up 2.4 goals a game.

Chicago Fire 1, Houston Dynamo 1: The ageless Bobby Boswell continues his strong year.  The defender scored the equalizer late in the match and, don’t look now, but Houston’s on a nice hot streak.  They are unbeaten in their last five and are climbing the Eastern Conference standings.  Chicago, on the other hand, can’t buy a win at the moment and their upcoming schedule won’t help that effort: they travel to Colorado then host the high-scoring Whitecaps before traveling to Toronto and Philadelphia.

Los Angeles Galaxy 3, Portland Timbers 0: Welcome back Landon Donovan.  The Team USA midfielder scored twice, including a penalty, but the match may have been over in the fourth minute when Chad Barrett scored.  LA fielded their strongest lineup of the year and looked like one of the best teams in MLS since maybe their opening night win over Seattle.  Portland, despite their good karma at home, just does not play well on the road.  They are two different teams depending on where the game is played.  For Timbers fans, the one bright sport was getting to see their new DP in action as Diego Chara was subbed on in the 46th minute.

For your viewing pleasure, above is the video of Juan Agudelo scoring the goal of the year so far in Major League Soccer. Every time there is a story or interview saying Americans should temper their enthusiasm for him and hold off on predicting greatness, he does stuff like this. Enjoy him while you can MLS fans.

Now for the roundup of what else happened this week:

• The Benny Feilhaber drama has ended for now with the midfielder claimed by New England after Chivas and Philadelphia passed on his rights. He was not traded to Houston, as was the rumor, and it looks like Shalrie Joseph will drop to a more holding role to make room for Feilhaber.
• The Chicago Fire are shuffling their lineup again, according to MLSsoccer.com.  Can’t say that’s incredibly surprising.
• Coach Wilmer Cabrera has made his call-ups to begin training for the U-17 World Cup in Mexico.  These are the type of players where you print out the list, wait four years, then go back and take a second look to judge how good of a team it is, based on where some of the players have gone.
• ESPN as part of their “money” issue of their magazine broke out a list of the top paid U.S. soccer players playing overseas (defined to include players with dual citizenship).  The entire list is behind their pay wall, but the top five are not surprising although the order may be: Brad Friedel, Oguchi Onyewu, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, and Giuseppe Rossi.  Want to know why Freddy Adu hasn’t returned to the U.S.? He makes close to $900,000 on his current contract.
• And finally, let’s hope the Lamr Hunt U.S. Open Cup winners celebrate more successfully than this.

Deadline deals are some of the most exciting in sports, and this one looks to be no different.  MLS announced today that Benny Feilhaber, most recently of AGF Aarhus, agreed to a contract with the league late Friday night and will be made available to the teams via allocation order.

Feilhaber had received playing time for AGF Aarhus, but as a second division Danish team Feilhaber was not receiving the exposure to top-flight soccer he may have hoped he would receive.  In addition, despite playing in the most recent World Cup, his spot on the U.S. national team has been threatened by a few younger players like Mikkel Diskerud.  Receiving regular playing time in the United States in a better league in front of Bob Bradley is a good way to remind him and American soccer fans that is a world-class player.

So where is Feilhaber going to play?  The first three teams in the most recent allocation order are Chivas, Philadelphia, and New England.  The Goats recently turned down an opportunity to sign English winger Jason Barton to possibly maintain their chance to sign Feilhaber.  He played his college soccer at UCLA, so it would be kind of a homecoming for him.  But Chivas has declined to discuss acquiring him until after Saturday’s match, and there is some question how Feilhaber would fit into Robin Fraser’s system.  The Union have already said they are not interested in acquiring Feilhaber, but whether that is a smokescreen is unknown.  New England already has an attacking midfielder in Shalrie Joseph, but could certainly accommodate him in the starting XI.

Regardless of where he plays, this is a great acquisition by MLS.  The league should be a place for U.S. national team players and prospects who are maybe just below the top European leagues (and who knows maybe eventually compete with the top leagues).  Grabbing players like Feilhaber not only makes the league more viable, but helps make those USMNT players more visible to American soccer fans.

USMNT Head Coach Bob Bradley annouces roster for January Camp

A pair of Scandinavian stand outs as well as few MLS emerging stars headline Bob Bradley’s 30 man roster for the annual January training camp.  Rising MLS stars, Omar Gonzalez, Chris Pontius and Kevin Alston will have the opportunity to show their skills to Coach Bradley ahead of the opening of camp on January 4th. The camp leads up to the first match of a vital year for the US Men’s National Team, against Honduras on January 23rd.

The January camp typically includes the best players from MLS as well as the Scandinavian leagues which are on winter break. Although typically made up of players from MLS and Scandinavia, the January camp allows the brightest stars of the past MLS camp, a chance to show their worth with the national team. This year, such stands outs include MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Zach Thornton, MLS Champions Nick Rimando, Robbie Findley and Kyle Beckerman as well as MLS Golden Boot winner Jeff Cunningham among others. In addition to their MLS compatriots, several Scandinavian players join the mix including, Marcus Tracy and Alejandro Bedoya who have earned a place on Bradley’s radar with strong seasons in their respective leagues.

Here’s the complete roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Kevin Hartman (Kansas City), Troy Perkins (Valerenga), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake), Zach Thornton (Chivas USA)

DEFENDERS: Kevin Alston (New England Revolution), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles Galaxy), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC), Brandon McDonald (San Jose Earthquakes)

MIDFIELDERS: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Jeff Larentowicz (New England Revolution), Dax McCarty (FC Dallas), Chris Pontius (D.C. United), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

FORWARDS: Justin Braun (Chivas USA), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake),  Marcus Tracy (Aalborg)

What are your thoughts on this roster? Who do you feel should have been included? Who should have been excluded?

Testify in the comments below.