Obsessedsportsnut's Blog

It could have been worse. Once again, the US found itself in an early hole, and struggled to earn a hard-fought tie. It should have been a win at the end of the game, if not for some lame refereeing. But again, a loss would have killed the US’s hopes for advancing to the next round. With a tie, they still have a good chance of advancing, but definitely need a win against Algeria to advance.

Moving on to some quick thoughts from today’s United States vs Slovenia game…

1) Robbie Findley is just plain horrible. He’s absolutely TERRIBLE.

All along, I never believed he belonged on the World Cup team. I understand coach Bob Bradley’s decision to include him on the team though: he provides a speed up front that Charlie Davies provided before he was injured. But that’s where the similarities end. Findley is nowhere near the player Davies was before his accident. The entire first half, the defense tried sending long balls for Findley to chase down, but he never put himself into position to receive them, and when he did, he screwed up every opportunity. He lacks the experience, expertise, and skill to correctly make the right decision.

He picked up a yellow card today as well, so he wont be able to play against Algeria. THANK GOODNESS. GET HIM OFF THE FIELD!!!

and I still stand by my belief that Brian Ching should have made the team instead of Findley.

2) Bradley needs to take a long look at his starting formations.

Obviously having Findley up front with Jozy Altidore was a bad move. Too many times the defense kicked long balls to Findley to try to utilize his speed. But during the entire first half, the entire offense was out of sync, and the US wasn’t able to build any momentum at all.

In the 2nd half, Bradley took out Findley, and inserted Maurice Edu in the midfield, and moved Landon Donovan up front. All of a sudden, the offense started to click. The team started to abandon the long ball, and started to string together passes and built up the momentum.

After these substitutions, the US ended up scoring 2 goals to equalize the game. I think Bradley really needs to look at starting Landon as a forward along with Altidore in the future.

I cant say it enough, but Findley is just HORRIBLE.

Ok im done ranting about him.

3) Michael Bradley, who scored the equalizing goal, is one of the most important players on the team.

If you didnt know by now, Michael Bradley is Bob Bradley’s son. Yes he’s the coach’s son. From the beginning of Bob’s tenture almost 4 years ago, he received constant criticism from people that he was showing “favoritism” to his son by starting him in the midfield.

However, while I think Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore are the team’s best players, I think Michael is the most important. He plays the most important position on the field: the center holding midfielder. It’s the player that has to cover the most ground on the field. It’s a player that has to go back and play defense, and also go on the attack on offense. The center midfielder is also the link between the defense and offense…he’s the one that normally takes the ball in his own half, and makes that ever so important first pass to the forwards.

Michael Bradley isn’t the biggest name in the world, but he does such a great job in his role on the team. In last year’s Confederation Cup he played such a big role against Egypt scoring the 2nd goal and also in their victory against Spain, when he helped shut down Spain’s midfield, which is the best in the world. Unfortunately, he picked up his 2nd yellow card (total BS) in the US’s game against Spain which ruled him in eligible in the finals against Brazil. Many analysts truly believe that had Bradley played in the game, the US would have won.