Greetings on Labor Day everyone, here's what I'm thinking about this Monday:
1. Site redesign. As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the U.S. section of ESPNsoccernet, you might have noticed that the past week has seen the implementation of new-style index pages. In theory should make things easier to navigate, as well as provide an improved visual presentation. I've been getting various e-mails as of late from readers asking if we can focus on specific issues etc., so my question to all of you is what features or topics would you like to see us address? Whether it's more coverage of say USL or U.S. junior national teams or certain pieces you would like to see one of my writers cover (e.g. the
Neven Subotic piece). Here's your chance to get your requests in (with the caveat that we might not be able to deliver in every instance, given our inevitable budget constraints).
2. U.S. roster for WC Qualifiers. The analysis of coach Bob Bradley's roster choices for the upcoming games against Cuba and T&T has been a huge talking point for a few days for U.S. Soccer fans. The two general schools of thought fall into those who are irate because talented young players like Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore have been left behind again and those who argue that fielding a veteran lineup to secure the wins should be the priority.
From my standpoint, I think there needs to be more of a middle ground -- obviously the experience angle makes sense to a degree, but the addition of Michael Orozco and Marvell Wynne to the roster shows that Bradley isn't completely averse to bringing young prospects. However, their presence only serves to further highlight the strange decision to exclude virtually all of the U.S.' brightest young attacking talent -- especially at the forward spot which has struggled to produce goals for quite some time.
At least in the case of Brian Ching you can argue he merits inclusion simply because he remains the only U.S. forward that is capable of playing the target forward role in the mold of Brian McBride. In the case of Eddie Johnson, until he starts scoring goals again at club level for Cardiff, there simply is no reason to carry him on the roster. Johnson's continued selection is even more bemusing given the emergence of Jozy Altidore and even someone like the Galaxy's Edson Buddle, who this year has easily matched Johnson's production in his last MLS season. As for Freddy Adu, regardless of whether or not he is ready to be a fulltime starter or not (a debate for a different day), the fact is that he still brings an element of creativity to the table that very few U.S. players can match and for that reason alone, he merits inclusion to provide a different option if needed.
Finally, regarding FC Dallas' Kenny Cooper, this is mere speculation on my part, but I'm of the opinion that Bradley and his staff just doesn't rate Cooper with the same high regard that fans hold him in. I've long heard whispers from sources that the national team coaching staff hasn't been impressed with Cooper during the few times he's been brought into national team training camp in the past. At the same time, I think there's a belief that Cooper is somewhat of a "tweener" in the sense that while he has the size to be a target forward, he's actually not suited for that role, and that he lacks the speed and agility to play as an "on-the-move" forward on the international level which is his preferred style. From my standpoint, I think that given what Cooper's shown at MLS level, and the fact that for a player with his size, he has very good touch and finishing skills, he deserves a call-up. At the least, Cooper needs a proper shot at the national team level to show if he can truly sink or swim on that stage.
3. Michael Bradley to the Bundesliga. After months of speculation, Michael Bradley is headed to Borussia M'Gladbach. It's a good move since I don't believe he is ready to excel for a top club in either La Liga or the EPL at this point in this career. The Bundesliga is a step above the Dutch league and it'll be a lot harder for Bradley to maintain the type of goal-scoring form he displayed for Hereenveen. If he can continue to notch goals in the Bundesliga, he'll go a long way towards validating the opinion of those who think he can be more of a complete box-to-box midfielder as opposed to just a holding midfielder -- although it's doubtful he can ever fulfill the hopes of those who view him as a potential attacking midfieler (he simply doesn't possess the offensive tools or skill-set to be that type of player). Of course, the downside of such a move is that if he fails to establish himself as a starter for a lower-tier Bundesliga team, it's doubful he'll be seeing any big money moves to a top club in the near future.
4. Go Charleston. For those of you who have been following the U.S. Open Cup, Wednesday night's final pits the Charleston Battery against D.C. United. The Battery have a chance to become just the second USL team ever to lift the trophy. I'll freely admit that I'll be rooting hard for Charleston to pull it off -- as some of you might know, I spent some time training with coach Mike Anhaeuser and his squad earlier this year and they're a great bunch of guys. Actually I'm not surprised that the Battery have made it this far (eliminating Houston and Dallas on the way). When I got to observe them up close, I'd remarked to several people at the time that I felt that they had quite a few MLS-quality players.
5. Shameless plug. As a favor to one of my readers, Brent, who's pursuing his dream of being an entrepeneur, I promised I'd give his business a mention. Brent's trying to make it as a soccer T-shirt maven, so check it out if you have some time or are in need of some tees.
Jen Chang
