The discussion is a long one, but soccer may be poised to leap frog hockey as the number four sport in America. American football, basketball, and baseball don’t seem to be going anywhere, but while soccer is spreading the interest for hockey seems to only be prevalent in certain areas. This should mean that MLS teams will begin gaining more money, and with more money should come higher quality players. With higher quality should come more fans. With more fans should come even more money. Etc.

So how should the US national team capitalize on the growing American interest in soccer? There is hope that sometime soon the manager of the US team will be able to pick from the often touted young pool of American talent, and if the U17’s performance at the CONCACAF qualifiers was any indication then our chance maybe sooner rather then later.

Unfortunately, Bob Bradley can’t go around capping every promising seventeen year old who scores a hat trick. He barely has enough time to give players like Freddy Adu and Maurice Edu time on the pitch. There’s a logic behind Bob Bradley’s managerial moves, but they often seem makeshift. We the fans rarely feel any forward movement.

So when should this great shift take place? When will our young talented players finally be grafted into the national team lineup? 2014? 2018? Can we wait that long? After success in 2002 and dejection in 2006 American soccer fans don’t know what to expect from the 2010 World Cup. Can the growing MLS create an enthusiasm that forces Bob Bradley to make some changes?

For years they’ve told us about the future, but when does the future start to unfold? What does it look like? Will there be some cool goals?

1. I skipped work to watch the Ghana game. I sat in bed and pretended to be ill. ESPN on mute. It’s strange now. This was the first time I invested something into the US nats. I was younger in 2002. Vaguely aware of what was going on. I wince now when I see Frings handle the ball on the line. I think of what could’ve been. Maybe I wouldn’t have seen it, but it would be something look back on and smile at.
No, my first days with the national team weren’t during a glorious run. I remember being told we needed to win to get out of group play. So I skipped out on data entry for the national team. That was the first time they let me down.

2. 2010. It’s like writing inspirational post it notes to myself. 2010. We’ll get them in 2010. We’ll be better then. Michael Bradley will govern midfield. Jozy Altidore will latch onto through balls with Mercurial speed and grace. Freddy Adu? Have you seen the kid’s free-kicks? His dribbling? His potential? Lithely trying to avoid Puyol putting cleats to his ankles. In my eyes that’s noteworthy. One of the world’s better defenders saw one of our player’s as a threat. Someone worth trying to injure.

3. We cite subtle improvements. Border victories. CONCACAF powerhouses. Wunderkid African immigrants. Arsenal looked at one of our kids. Us. Charlie Renken. American CR7? I start wondering if 16 is too young to play in the World Cup. Didn’t Messi do it? What about Pele? Try to be hopeful. Maybe we can take bronze.

4. When Sacha Klejstan scores a hat trick against Sweden do we start garnering world attention? Do teams give us plaudits for things other than fitness? Are things the same?

5. My Irish friends keep rooting for Mexico. Why are they rooting for Mexico?

6. The Confederations Cup is the measurement of how hopeful I can be. How big of a fall I can set myself up for. If I go to South Africa and Brooks Peck is screaming for news updates and I can’t find wifi and I’m writing everything in my notebook am I writing for myself or for my team? Am I going for myself or am I going as a supporter? Or as a “journalist”?

If you still had any questions about who the full time captain of this United States Men’s National Team would be, they should all be answered by now.

Carlos Bocanegra has been a pillar of consistency at the back for the United States, exemplifying everything a good captain should be. I did have my doubts about Carlos though…

Carlos was always a pretty good European player, a little too much in the background for a captain I used to think, but he has proved me and everyone else who doubted him wrong.

He took his game to the next level on both club and country levels, and now can be seen wearing the arm band for both. Although he may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think USA soccer, Carlos has trained with passion and meaning in every camp and has been the most dependable player during Bob Bradley’s tenure. The players respect him, and they should, as you know what you can count on from Carlos on any given day.

If it wasn’t before, the race for the arm band is officially over.

Welcome the captain, Carlos Bocanegra.

I often find myself looking deep into the future to the year of 2010. It is so far yet so close. With qualifying already starting in various regions of the world, the focus of the football world and soccer country will be on the year 2010 in South Africa.

One of the most intriguing questions come 2010, besides if we will have a striker who can finish consistently, is who will be manning the center of the park?

Today at training in Switzerland, Bob Bradley stared out at his vast group of young players with a few sprinkled vets, and four hungry men stared back. Out of these four, plus possibly a few at home, the center of the midfield will be shaped from.

One of the guys Bob Bradley sees is very familiar to him, his son Michael Bradley. Michael has slowly but steadily been increasing his stranglehold on one of the center midfield slots that could come into play in Bob Bradley’s 2010 lineup card. His club and country form have been nothing short of outstanding as he continues to prove that he has the versatility to be a destroyer all by his lonesome while a shorter darker u-20 pal of his could possibly play a pure number 10 in front of him.

If Bob decides to go with a more conservative route, which he has been taking for most of his tenure as head coach, he will pair two defensive or two-way midfielders in the center of the park.

Another guy who seems to be in commanding position to partner with the coach’s son is Benny Feilhaber. Yes, you remember, the hero of the Gold Cup. The kid sorta came from nowhere this summer to being one of the most talented players on the field every time the USA suited up. These days he is struggling for time in England, but is still riding on his performance of the summer. He has a few under him who were just like he was a short year ago, nipping at his heels.

Danny Szetela and Maurice Edu are new to this whole national team thing. Szetela was always on the radar, but only truly showed up for the first time this summer at the U-20 World Cup. Maurice Edu has been doing his thing all year in MLS, making a strong case for Rookie of the Year. You could call these two the hungry young guns, but then again, Bradley and Feilhaber are just as young.

Pablo Mastroeni and Ricardo Clark send you their well wishes as well.

The talent and depth Bob Bradley has at his disposal in the center of the pitch is quite impressive, those who emerge from the battle for those coveted positions will prove to be as well.

The recent rumblings in the USA soccer community have been caused by a few interesting quotes from Bob Bradley’s press conference at the Home Depot Center for the player of the year award, won by Landon Donovan if you give a crap about those kind of things.

Anyways, Bob said that he had been in contact with Giuseppe Rossi’s camp and would try to get him into the team. Now to you and me that sounds like quite the long shot given Rossi’s recent history of rejecting all things USA National Team, but you have to give Bob credit for effort.

But maybe it is not as crazy as it seems. I mean, we are talking about the fricken Italian National Team here, yeah the ones that one that thing called the World Cup. Who knows how far down he is on Italy’s radar, while in the USA squad he would almost have a guarenteed spot for every fixture. Just for fun, imagine a future USA lineup including Jozy, Freddy, and Rossi. Unreal.

Now wake up, because you are dreaming, for now at least.

An interesting question would arise though, would you accept Benedict Arnold, aka Giuseppe Rossi, for our national team? I know I only want people who want to be here. It is possible for him to have a change of heart when his Italian picture becomes clearer. Plus the kid is tearing it up right now with upstart Villareal.

But alot of USA supporters, including a bit from myself, have some anger and bitterness towards the kid. Obviously it is a bit unwaranted, who knows what you would do when put in a situation like the traitor that is Giuseppe Rossi.

They were released from the handcuffs, let free in the wild, and told to make it happen. The fruits of their labor are just now beginning to show.

Clint Dempsey was always a great MLS player, and a good national team player. In the summer of 2006, he took the next step, regardless of if he was ready or not. Blasting home the Americans loan goal, he was officially on the international scene. But it was more than just a goal. He was the only one that took some leadership. While all of the other Americans were to busy trying to keep possesion between the back four or making the always safe play, Duece was pinning the ears back and taking on defenders on the right edge like a mad man, often creating the only USA opportunities of the tournament.

His move to Fulham came at a perfect time, he had outgrown MLS, but was he ready for the prem? He struggled to get constant first team minutes at the end of last year, but managed to save Fulham from relegation with his goal against Liverpool at the end of the campaign. Qeustions arose this season if he was truly in Sanchez’s plans. McBride went down with the injury, and Dempsey stepped up. He has been on a tear ever since. Now we are finally seeing the fruits of putting an immensley talented player in a constant european influence. Dempsey is just so much more polished than he used to be. He can now be counted on as a forward or an outside mid, and is scoring constantly in the premiership.

Many great coaches have said, to improve as a team, each player must improve individually. That is what will ultimatley take the United States to the next level on the International soccer landscape.

Freddy Adu scored his first Benfica goal this week from the penalty spot while his team was down a goal in cup competition. Adu was not called to the spot by the coach, he stepped up, put it home, and sent the game to extra time. Where he again converted in the shootout to help Benfica to a victory. Talk about some stones for a Euro soccer rookie teenager from America. Alot of talk was starting to formulate about if Adu would get lost in the vast Benfica system, if he was really still in Camacho’s plans. Everyone close to the situation called for patience, and it is starting to pay off. The thing some American fans need to realize is that even if Freddy isn’t getting first team minutes every time out, he is still in training with players of such a high level that he will grow as a player tremendously, even without touching the field. The hard work has payed off though, as Freddy has made the squad for Benfica’s biggest league game to date against Sporting Lisbon, a feat he hadn’t accomplished for the past set of league games prior. The growth is very mucuh there from Benfica supporters view, who think he has improved as a player a ton from just the Copenhagen game to today.

This is the kind of stuff that will take this program to the next level. The goal is when we play a World Cup game to not be able to say that they just had better players. The goal is closer to being achieved every time these two young men take the practice field, and many are following in suit.

I always think, especially for friendlies, that it takes a few day to process all of the “what mattered” and “what didn’t”, because it is truly just one game, that counts for basically nothing.

A few days have now passed since the Brazil friendly and there are a few things I noticed.

For one, Team America played great, entertaining, physical soccer. You could not have asked for a more entertaining match from a viewer’s stand point. I think the United States deffinatley played well enough for at least a tie, but a few things (Gooch own goal, delerious ref) went against them. But since this is a friendly you can’t get too down about things like that. Repeat after me: It’s all about the quality of play.

Don’t mention the five game losing streak, just take note that the USSF finally decided to start schedualing tough friendly opponents instead of the cupcakes we would steamroll in the past on the way to a ridiculously high fifa ranking. The faith is still with Bob and he has done alot of good in a short time and I for one can’t wait to see how the cycle progresses with him at the helm.

If you hadn’t noticed, Clint Dempsey, aka The Trailer Park Hero, aka Duece, is on some kind of hot streak. This is the Clint I was calling for a bit back when I said he was lacking his edge. Well, he found it. What was most impressive was the way Dempsey knew his role this weekend. He wasn’t trying to out-dangle ‘Dinho, or out-stepover Robinho. He held the ball well against a tough Brazil squad and allowed play to facilitate on the attacking end for the Americans.

Another shining star was Michael Bradley. He brought it all. What’s great about Michael is not just his insanley Gattuso like characteristics in the midfield, or the way he can make a gorwn man crap out his organs in fear, or his strength on the ball when being harassed by some of the best players in the world, but what he can do to the tactics side of things for his Daddy. Michael, as I see him, is a perfect D-Mid for the United States. Benny Feilhaber, or say Danny Szetela, are sometimes classified as D-Mids, but are in that type of two-way mold where they can pack a more offensive punch. Bradley could add to the offense too, but what he is best at is clearly breaking up oncomming attacks and stomping on people. This gives the rest of the squad a world of options, because you can put him behind three truly attack minded players in the midfield. Now that’s not to say nobody is going to track back on D, but he can do alot of damage back their, in a diamond type formation. Just for future speculation, why (in certain situations against certain opponents obviously, everything is situational in soccer) pair Bradley in central midfield with another D-mid type, not as strong, with a bit of offensive punch in Feilhaber, when you can have Rino Bradley lying deap in the midfield, with say come 2010 Freddy, Mr. #10 himself, in th epurley attacking midfielder role. The options are endless.

All in all the result did not reflect the game, and the USA definitely stepped up from their previous couple efforts.

Your thoughts on the friendly? The recent revival of the Clint Dempsey show? Michael Bradley’s beastliness and what he can do to future lineups?

——————- Howard——————
Cherundolo— Gooch— Bocanegra (capt.)— Pearce
————– Bradley———- Feilhaber—————–
Donovan ———————————- Beasley
————————Wolf——————————-
————————Dempsey————————-

I’m liking Heathe out there at LB. This is a strong squad, let’s see how they hold up.

- Mastro dropped for injury, hello Kerry Zavagnin.

- Finalists for the Honda Award were announced – Landy, Howard, Boca. No one cares anyways…

- The game this weekend is sort of a lose-lose situation for Daddy Bradley. Doubts are starting to creep in (rightfully or wrongfully so), and the boys need to put out a good preformance against the best side in the world. Ouch.

- Duece just needs to do what he did last weekend and he’s straight. That’s alot to ask, so how about half of that?

- Heres the lineup I’d like to see

Dempsey – Johnson
Beaz————Donovan
—Bradley-Feilhaber—
Pearce-Boca-Gooch-Spector

I know, that is Eddie Johnson there, but I am kind of sick of seeing like half of a real striker out there when Depmsey and Landon are up top. The right midfield slot was open anyways.

Went with Heath on the left because you could tell in the last match that Spector being a righty out on the left was starting to become an issue.

What lineup do you want to see?