(Editorial) – Michael Bradley has long been a name on the team sheet that people expect to be at every tournament and every friendly match, but he shouldn’t be so safe when the USMNT makes their roster decisions. Over the period of the last few years, during the time he went from AS Roma in the Serie A back to America to play in Major League Soccer, he has regressed as a footballer and needs to be dropped. Not only has a large portion of his performances dictated that he doesn’t necessarily deserve a guaranteed spot, but there are other names in the USMNT player pool that deserve a chance.
Michael Bradley Should Be Dropped From The USMNT
The one thing that you’re likely to hear when talking to supporters from the USMNT is this, they want their players playing in the top leagues in Europe. This opinion isn’t shared by everyone, but is a widely held one for those who are more concerned about the results of the national team rather than the domestic leagues. Can an argument really be made that a younger player would be better served playing in MLS over the English Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, or the Bundesliga? To answer that question logically, no. Although the development of the domestic league is pivotal for the long-term development of the national team, the best young Americans should obviously be playing in the best leagues around the world. So, when you hear of a player who’s supposed to be one of the nation’s pivotal pieces moving from Serie A back to MLS, what do you think of? That the player has regressed or that they aren’t good enough to play in Europe anymore, and both are the case with Michael Bradley.
The Numbers
Bradley started his European playing career in Eredivisie with Heerenveen in 2006 before moving in 2009-10 to play with Borussia Monchenglabbach, a German team that has taken an apparent liking to USMNT players. During his time with Borussia he was a regular on the team sheet, and rewarded their faith in him with some relatively decent performances, especially for a young and unproven player from a non-traditional soccer nation. The numbers, however, showed that he was nothing short of average in possession, a point that will be touched on later. In his two seasons there, accumulating 48 appearances for the first team, he had a pass success rates of 78.6% and 73.5% respectively to go along with five goals and four assists in total—generally not numbers you’re looking for in a regular starter in the middle of the pitch.
After two relatively decent seasons in Germany, he moved on to Italy to play in the Serie A with Chievo Verona, where he made 35 appearances in his only season there. Despite only having a single goal and assist to his name, as well as a subpar 79.2% pass success rate, he was able to rack up over 3,000 minutes and garner interest from one of the top teams in Italy: AS Roma. He experienced one of the best seasons, in terms of passing and not wasting possession, in his European career with Roma, but quickly fell out of favor in Rome the following season, leading him back across the pond to MLS. This is because, as is shown by the average stats for a central midfielder, that he is decent enough to play in Europe, but isn’t good enough to make an actual impact. During the end of his only full year in Rome, and the short period in the season after, he showed that he was able to keep up with the pace, but never did anything of significance. So why is he still one of the first names on the team sheet for the USA?
The Message To Be Taken
Michael Bradley is a fairly inefficient passing midfielder, who specializes in ineffective passes, especially when playing in the big tournaments. The Copa America match against Argentina is a perfect example, as he was consistently poor in possession. And, even when he was completing a pass, it was so immensely ineffective that it did nothing to help the positioning of his teammates, and created virtually no attacking options moving up the pitch. This has become a fairly common occurrence for Bradley on the big stage, and it’s exactly the reason that he needs to take a forced hiatus from the national team. The same argument can be made for the first match of this tournament, when the USMNT played Colombia in the group stage. Granted these two teams are two of the best in the world, but someone who is considered to be a nations best player shouldn’t be consistently poor against every top opponent that they play. Below this is the passing chart for Michael Bradley against Argentina, and don’t be surprised when it shows how poor he actually was.
As had been requested, here is Michael Bradley's passing chart: #USMNT pic.twitter.com/2TNm3WGLcr
— Thomas Floyd (@ThomasFloyd) June 22, 2016
Now, even if you so choose to take the route of forgiving him for his performances during this Copa America, let’s not forget the last Gold Cup, where he played every minute for the United States throughout one of the worst performances the USMNT has ever had in that tournament, and a tournament where his subpar play was masked by a phenomenal tournament from Clint Dempsey. He has had some decent performances sprinkled in here and there, but seriously, when was the last time you remember Michael Bradley being the difference between the USA winning and losing in a meaningful match? This point isn’t being beaten into the supporters’ heads over and over to say that he should never be selected again, but rather that a message needs to be sent that the USA expects more from their national team, their players, and most definitely out of their captain. A captain is supposed to lead by example and pave the way for the team, and if this is the path the nation is going to take, one where a player continues to be awarded for poor performances in important tournaments, then don’t expect much for the immediate future.
The United States Expects More
You can go on all day about the tournaments and teams he’s played for, and the performances he’s efficiently went missing in, but the fact remains that this nation simply expects more. When Bradley is at the top of his game it’s not even an arguable point that he is the United States’ most valuable player, but that hasn’t been happening at a frequency that should be expected of the captain. The supporters of the USMNT have instead chosen to delve into the age old rhetoric of the formations being chosen, the players being called up, and blaming the manager for the problems that lie with the players. Now, Jurgen Klinsmann isn’t an angel in this case, but when will the supporters start to expect more and chastise the players as much as they do the manager? In a nation of over 320 million people, a large portion of whom are immigrants from all over the world, it is nothing short of unacceptable that the USMNT isn’t at least putting up a fight against some of the top nations.
The best way to send the message that these performances will no longer be accepted, and that the USA demands more of their players, is to drop the players who are causing the problem, and Bradley is definitely not an exceptiont. Bradley, along with a few other names that come to the forefront, need to be dropped in favor of players who are younger, hungrier, and want to prove that they have what it takes to take this national team into a new era, and a more successful time. Bradley will, of course, play a pivotal role in the transitional period into the future, but the point remains, the United States expects more. Expecting more from our team goes hand in hand with criticizing them when necessary, and that starts with the leader.
USA Soccer will never be taken seriously if the players aren't ridiculed says @ColinCowherd. https://t.co/MUGonFI1cn pic.twitter.com/5VaKdfugwr
— FOX Sports Radio (@FoxSportsRadio) June 22, 2016
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