Republican Tom Emmer has consistently trailed his Democratic opponents in governor’s polls over the past few months. And lately he’s been the butt of attacks over his drunken driving convic…
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After a successful 2010 World Cup that saw the United States win its group for the first time since 1930, U.S. head coach Bob Bradley has been retained through 2014. While the primary objective of the team – advancing out of a group that looked fairly easy at the time of the draw – was accomplished, there was a widely held belief that the United States had a chance to make a deeper run in the tournament. Grant Wahl lamented:
All the U.S. had to do was beat Ghana and Uruguay—two fellow soccer mid-majors—and the Yanks would have reached the semifinals, won global hosannas and turned their own fickle nation into full-fledged fútbol lunatics.
That feeling is a bit misguided. The U.S. had a chance to advance deeper in the knockout rounds, but they did not for the simple fact that they were not good enough. The 2010 squad was not a threat to win the World Cup because their players were not as talented as the ones for Spain, Brazil or Germany.
With Bradley returning as head coach, there is the very real possibility that a team made up primarily of 2010 holdovers (Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and Oguchi Onyewu) will be showing up at the World Cup in Brazil 2014. That is not necessarily a bad thing – Bradley has made significant improvements in his tactical abilities and pushed all the right buttons substitution-wise at the World Cup.
There is little doubt that Bradley can get the 2010 U.S. holdovers to the knockout rounds of Brazil 2014, and perhaps to the quarterfinals. But the most important question to ask is whether retaining Bradley raises the ceiling for U.S. soccer – can they go toe-to-toe with the powers of world soccer in the knockout stages and prevail? Right now, the answer is no.
Outside of Bradley, the most attractive candidate for the job was former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann. He lives in the United States, is married to an American woman, and has expressed an interest in the job since Bruce Arena left the post in 2006. Germany drew raves for its wide-open style in the 2006 World Cup before bowing out in the semifinals to eventual champion Italy. But apparently that is not enough to convince Leander Schaerlaeckens of ESPN that he would have been a good choice:
Klinsmann is all about molding a soccer culture into his liking. As Germany’s national coach, he turned Der Mannschaft from a hard-nosed bunch of scrappers to the flamboyant fancy-pants team we see today.
Schaerlaeckens inadvertently makes a good argument against Bradley here. If the goal is to challenge for a World Cup, the United State is best served to change their style of play. This means a focus on their advantages in speed, athleticism and finishing set pieces.
The team simply cannot beat the powers in Europe and South America by playing their game. The key is to create a style all their own, something Klinsmann could have tried to do. As it stands, the U.S. has exactly four players with the capability of scoring on any team in the world – Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and Charlie Davies, something that has to change.
The team has a potential world-class central midfielder – young Jose Francisco Torres – but will Bradley recognize his unique talents? Can the back line be revamped in four short years to avoid the early, nearly fatal breakdowns that happened at the World Cup, or will the same cast of characters return in a play-it-safe move? It looks like all of U.S. soccer is playing it safe.
Photo via
Tomorrow the new uniforms for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team will be revealed for the world to see in New York City. We’ll learn what the folks at Nike have cooked up for our players to don for at least one game as well as the contest which they will do so.
As you are probably well aware, this event is being met with some trepidation on the part of the Crimson Tide faithful. The uniforms are considered somewhat sacrosanct and any news they are to be trifled with is met with notable concern. The university an Coach Saban have both said they have insisted the watchword is tradition and changes will be minor.
Yet, the truth of the matter is that the Alabama football uniform has gone through a decent number of changes over the years. Yes, this has been significantly less than many other programs and it’s current form is recognizable in the garb of the team in the 1940s. Still, since the first Varsity squad donned the crimson in 1894, the garb of the team has seen some changes.
Source: The University of Alabama Record Book (with research by the Paul W. Byrant Museum)
We are entering the final day of a stellar August that finds the Twins with an opportunity to claim their winningest month since September of 2006. And there is no shortage of players fro…
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While you were sleeping, SportsGrid was up all night watching TV and searching the internet for links to help get your day started. Today, U.S. basketball has a tough time at the worlds, Marcus Jordan’s big spending faces more scrutiny, and U.S. soccer coach Bob Bradley will be back for more.
The U.S.A. basketball team overcame an early deficit to (barely) beat Brazil 70-68 and remain unbeaten at the world championships. Kevin Durant dropped 27 on the Brazilians, while Leandro Barbosa just missed tying the game for Brazil at the buzzer. Maybe the u.S. will have less trouble if Danny Granger stops worrying so much about Europeans’ personal hygiene.
Marcus Jordan’s (son of Michael) already-infamous free-spending Vegas trip is now officially under investigation. Lesson here: going into a 21+ club when you’re 20 is probably not a good idea, and if you must do this, it’s best to 1) not tweet about it; and 2) not be related to a famous person.
U.S. soccer coach Bob Bradley signed a four-year extension to keep his current position. If he fulfills the contract, SI’s Grant Wahl points out, Bradley will be the second consecutive coach to lead the U.S. in back-to-back World Cups…something that’s only happened five times previously. Every other time it happened, the nation in question won at least one World Cup during the run, so we’re basically a shoo-in in 2014.
We already wrote about this, but if you haven’t watched Roger Federer’s spectacular shot at the U.S. Open last night, you’re doing yourself a disservice, so watch it now.
Finally, Mike Florio counts down the smartest and dumbest NFL franchises for GQ. Sample: “Now that Kurt Warner has retired, luck left with him and stupidity reigns.”
Check back in with SportsGrid all day to satisfy your sports media-meets-pop-culture sensibilities.
With the season starting back up, the Bama blogerati will once again be tossing around questions and answers via the Crimson and White Roundtable. As always, questions and responses can be found at the C&W Roundtable Blog, so here’s this week’s edition:
1. What are your expectations for the coming season?
I’ve already handled this one*, so I’ll quote this tidbit…
I expect them to go out each and every game and work to dominate whoever they are lined up against. I expect them to go hard on every down. I expect each one to do his job trusting that the other 10 guys next to him are doing theirs, too. And that’s honestly the only thing that we can expect of our team. They can’t control what the other team does, so they have to focus on what they do, and that’s go out there with the mindset that they will flat outwork the opponent until he can’t take anymore.
…and trust y’all to click the link and read the rest.
2. What players do you most expect to stand out?
On defense, I think Courtney Upshaw is going to be a monster this year. The light came on for him at the end of the season and he was really a very dominant presence as a pass rusher, so I expect him to do some big things this year from the Jack position. I also have high hopes for Damian Square after his knee injury early last season, and Kerry Murphy should provide a solid pass rush from the NT position. All three of them are in for good seasons if they can stay healthy.
On offense, I just don’t know. I actually kind of feel like everyone is going to be so good on that side of the ball that there just won’t be enough air in the room for any one of them to truly outshine the rest. If i have to name one “surprise” pick, then I think Brad Smelley has a chance at a special season after kind of disappearing last year. There’s no doubt he’s a solid pass catching threat as a TE, but his blocking was just not up to snuff last season and his time on the field suffered for it. Every time he was mentioned in the spring and during the offseason there was always some “he’s worked really hard to bulk up/improve his blocking/etc”, so hopefully he’s managed to get himself into the kind of shape he needs to be in to contribute more this season. And if we are really going to put an emphasis on opening up the passing game and using more four wide sets, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him lining up at receiver some. Remember, he was often flexed out to the slot in five wides last year, so if we can get him on a safety or linebacker out there he could give McElroy a big target over the middle.
3. What do you think will be biggest difference between this team and the 2009 squad?
On offense I think we’ll see more explosive plays from the passing game, but I don’t think we’ll be as wide open as some folks think. I’m thinking more along the line of what we saw against Florida, with a few more shots down the field here and there. I mean, we’re still likely going to be an under center, two TE offense for the most part.
As for defense, I think the biggest change will be the athleticism along the defensive line. Without Cody’s size, the linemen are going to have to depend more on their speed and technique to pull the double teams that Cody always earned, but for the most part I think we’ll be just fine in that regard. Conversely, I think we’ll see a more physical linebacking corps with Courtney Upshaw coming into his own at Jack (Eryk Anders was playing way above his head at that position, God bless him) and guys like Chris Jordan and Chavis Williams getting serious time. I’m still a little concerned about moving Jerrell Harris inside, though; the talent is there, but having Ro and Hightower inside last year was just unfair, and then Nico Johnson was no lightweight in Hightower’s place either. Harris has ridiculous speed, though, so if he’s bulked up enough to handle the point of attack then more power to him.
* that’s what she said.
Tim Pawlenty has opted to take grant money from a federal law he wants repealed.
The money is for programs dismissed by the state as ineffective.
And he picked a grant that requires $ 37…
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