Bob Bradley, US Men's Team Head Coach

Bradley led the U.S. to an undefeated record in group play at the 2010 FIFA World for the first time en route to a first-place group finish for the first time in 80 years. After finishing the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying cycle with more goals than any other team in the world, Bradley will again be at the helm through qualifying and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Up next for the U.S. and Bradley is a pair of international friendlies on Oct. 9 against Poland in Chicago and Oct. 12 against Colombia in Chester, Pa. Tickets are on sale now for the Soldier Field match against Poland, which will be televised live at 7 p.m. CT on Fox Soccer Channel and Galavision. Tickets for the first-ever appearance for the U.S. Men at PPL Park go on sale this Friday (Sept. 3). The second match will be televised live by ESPN2 and Galavision, kicking off at 8 p.m. ET.

Mike Sorber, SLU/US Men's Team Assistant Coach

It’s the first time that a U.S. World Cup team hasn’t had at least one player with a connection to St. Louis, though in the past three events, the lone link has been Brian McBride, who played at St. Louis University but was born and raised in the Chicago area. No player who was a product of St. Louis has represented the United States in the World Cup since Sorber in 1994.

It delves into some of the players that got looks although they missed Jack Jewsbury, with his SLU roots who spent two weeks in camp in January 2009.

The second article, Soccer coach Sorber in right place, looks at the history of Mike Sorber’s introduction to the US National Team and subsequent development as an assistant coach. One of the opening paragraphs offered some background I wasn’t familiar with, that being how Sorber was ‘discovered’.

Sorber was a player at St. Louis University who had never been on a U.S. youth national team and hadn’t even been a college All-American. But coach Bora Milutinovic saw Sorber at the 1991 NCAA College Cup, liked his ability to hold and distribute the ball and called him into camp, which led to Sorber starting all four games at the 1994 World Cup and making 67 appearances in all with the national team.

If you are interested in the history of the game and St Louis soccer traditions, both are a must-read. They also point to a discussion needed here in Southwest Missouri as well as St Louis. Sorber addresses it at the end of the first article I referenced:

“St. Louis is slipping, but we’re not so far off,” Sorber said. “It’s not like the rest of the country is producing (Lionel) Messis or Rio Ferdinands. We still have a long way to go as a nation. But if you look at St. Louis, St. Louis has not done well in a while. … St. Louis soccer has always been built on short passes, but there’s more in the modern game. That’s not enough anymore. There are more pieces.

“At the end of the day, at what level do you want to produce, what standard are you holding clubs to? Are we getting kids ready for college or saying we want to have some players at the national team level or playing in MLS?”

What do we need to do here in our corner of the world’s game? Anyone interested in an in-depth discussion on the steps we should be taking? I’ll be collecting feedback during the World Cup, join me at Farmer’s Gastropub this Saturday for the USA vs England game and help open the conversation. Game time is 1:30 pm, I’ll be there early.

Bob Bradley, US Men's Team Head Coach

He goes on to describe the relationship Bradley established with Pete Carril, the Hall of Fame basketball coach that became a mentor for Bradley who began his coaching career at Princeton. There’s a unique opportunity to learn more about Coach Bradley’s experience because it turns out Princeton requires each senior to complete a Senior Thesis. Bradley’s was “The History of Intercollegiate Athletics at Princeton”.

On page 56, one of Bradley’s paragraphs from 30 years ago stood out: “Carril is not able to recruit the top-notch city talent. In fact, many of his players are barely recruited by other schools. But Carril is able to take these players and teach them his patient, intelligent style. Carril’s teams are noted for their tough defense, patient, often deliberate offense, taking only the good shot, and team play. To me, there is nothing better than to watch a Princeton basketball team frustrate and beat a ‘bigger and better’ team. Yes, the coaching staff is definitely very important.”

Keep these ideas in mind as we get our last look at the 30 players in camp during tonight’s match against the Czech Republic. Bradley will be announcing the Final Roster tomorrow at noon, live on ESPN Sportscenter.

Bob Bradley, US Men's Team Head Coach

On what Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez did to earn a spot on the preliminary roster:
“Both Edson and Herculez have had a very good season. Both have helped their teams a great deal. Edson has been the hottest goal scorer in MLS and has helped the Galaxy get off to a great start. Herculez was an important player with Puebla and scored a lot of goals. We feel that both of them have shown enough for us to take a look at them as we start the camp.”

On José Torres and his club commitments overlapping with a portion of the training camp:
“We will continue to monitor the next series obviously between Pachuca and Toluca. Those games are both scheduled on the 12th and 15th (of May) and then we’ll assess the situation following that series.”

Check out the article for all of the details or you can watch the video

Soccer America, among others, chimed in with a story Selection process cruel to U.S. heroes. Key take away?

– Bradley took 21 foreign-based players and nine MLS players.
– It’s a relatively young team with 15 players 25 or younger on June 12 when the USA opens against England. Only five of the 30 players are 30 or older.
– Only seven players have played in the World Cup. DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan have played in two.
– Davies and Casey were two of only six players from the U.S. team that finished second at the 2009 Confederations Cup who did not make the list of 30 players.
– The most notable absentee, of course, is Freddy Adu, whose stock has fallen so low that his exclusion from Tuesday’s list hardly received any mention.

Editor’s note – I for one am happy to see Charlie Davies left home. He is responsible for the situation he is in by breaking curfew as well as being involved in the accident that led to the death of one of his companions. Quit your whining Charlie. As Grant Wahl notes on Twitter – “Davies is understandably emotional. But fact remains that Sochaux could not have prevented US from calling him into pre-WC camp”

Tickets have already gone on sale for June 15 at the The Home Depot Center in Carson, Ca. for the game against Barbados.

There are a number of friendlies coming up soon.
May 28th 2:00 pm – U.S. Men vs. England (Wembley Stadium), ESPN Classic (live)
June 4th 3:00 pm – U.S. Men vs. Spain (Estadio El Sardinero; Spain), ESPN2 (4 pm ET)
June 8th 6:30 pm – U.S. Men vs. Argentina (Giants Stadium; N.J.), Live on ESPN Classic
June 15th 4:00 pm – U.S Men vs. Barbados (Home Depot Center; Carson, CA) Live on ESPN2

Beckham has been called up for England but Bob Bradley hasn’t announced the US squad yet.

The U.S. Women’s National Team will travel to Europe for friendly matches for the first time since 2001, facing Norway in Fredrikstad on July 2, followed by an intriguing clash with Sweden in Skelleftea on July 5.

Olympics U23′s

The group stages have been identified. The men have been placed in Group B, which includes Netherlands, Nigeria and Japan. The Women are in Group C, which includes Norway, Japan and New Zealand.

As a reminder, the Olympics feature each country’s U-23 team, plus three wild card players. That and the fact that three of the four World Cup semifinalists from World Cup ’06 — France, Germany and Portugal — are not going to China, ensures a whole new adventure.

You can get a look at the possible roster later this month when the US plays in the Toulon Tournament. The United States faces Turkey on May 21 (9:30am ET), Ivory Coast on May 23 (12:30pm) and Italy on May 25 (noon) with all the games to be featured on Fox Soccer Channel. Oh, the KC Wizards are represented by Jon Leathers, a defender.

USA Today visited with the Women’s team recently to talk about the Olympics.

Seven players on the roster were on the field when the teams last met in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup final. In front of more than 60,000 fans in Chicago, goals by Landon Donovan and Benny Feilhaber lifted the U.S. to a 2-1 victory and their second consecutive Gold Cup title.

Bradley has called on a dozen players from European-based clubs, including the Fulham duo of Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey. Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard joins the U.S. fold after a stellar year in 2007, appearing in a career-high 10 matches and earning eight victories. Everton are currently in fourth place in the English Premier League table. SC Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley enters the camp in fine form in league play, having scored six goals in his team’s last five matches to help elevate Heerenveen into second place in the Dutch Eredivisie.

Note – Taylor Twellman was part of training camp leading up to Wednesday’s match but was not chosen for the game after straining a groin muscle late last week, the latest in a string of injuries that have helped keep him off the pitch for the US

Wednesday February 6th, 8:00 – 10:30 pm on ESPN2