Being coached by Bob Bradley finally catches up to U.S.It was bound to happen and against Ghana it did, perhaps a bit earlier than it really should have. The U.S. just fell behind one too many times and their exciting run worth a lot of praise came to an end against a solid Ghana team that deserved the 2-1 win in extra time.
Still, it's difficult to ignore the glaring problems that set this U.S. team up for what can reasonably seen as premature failure. They fought incredibly hard and showed amazing resilience, but in the end, many of the reasons the U.S. is now out of the World Cup can be traced back to coach Bob Bradley.
Coaches are often made into scapegoats and the targets of misguided frustration, but in the case of Bradley it's clear that blame is deserved. In the Ghana game alone, his mistakes were blatant and lethal.
[Photos: More images from the United States' loss to Ghana]
Instead of sticking with the lineup that got them a win over Algeria, he reinserted midfielder Ricardo Clark, who was culpable for England's quick goal against the U.S. in their opening match and all speed but no finish striker Robbie Findley. As a result, the U.S. ended up allowing yet another early goal in just the fifth minute of play off a ball given up by Clark, who then earned a yellow card two minutes later. Bradley finally realized his mistake and pretty much admitted it by substituting Clark in just the 30th minute. Findley, meanwhile, blew a fantastic chance to score by kicking the ball right at the goalkeeper. He was substituted at halftime for Benny Feilhaber, who made an instant impact that could have been just as useful in the first half. That left just one substitute to use after the half in a match that would end up going to extra time.
These issues are hardly new, though. As far back as the World Cup qualifying campaign, the U.S. has been giving up early goals -- a clear sign of poor preparation -- and both Clark and Findley have been proving their shortcomings, as have other players that Bradley stubbornly stuck with time and time again. And so the early goals kept coming, the wrong players kept sneaking into the starting XI, and against Ghana -- a team that only scored off of two penalty kicks in the entirety of the group stage -- it ended. After the match, Landon Donovan said the U.S. was just "too naive," which can really only be taken as a critique of their unacceptable preparation for a team they were favored to beat.
The Fire Bob Bradley campaign has been around for years now and has only been dismissed by the U.S. federation because the team kept rolling along in spite of its coach and his chronic mismanagement. Now that the rolling has stopped and U.S. fans are left frustrated over a favorable path to a World Cup semifinal squandered, it's time to thank Bradley for his commitment and the successes that he did bring and finally bring on a manager who can fully realize the potential (which, to be clear, is far from limitless) this squad has. Or at the very least won't constantly serve as a handicap to a national team ready to mature.
http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Being-coached-by-Bob-Bradley-finally-catches-up-?urn=sow,251589
