When WFC last checked in on Bob Bradley, he was having an interestingly uneventful summer.  The USA manager left the World Cup with his team having flashed a hint of their potential and then falling short at the critical moment, as usual.  With Bradley’s four-year contract nearing its conclusion, there was no consensus among critics and supporters with regard to his continuing with the team.

For my part, I was firmly entrenched with the nay sayers.  My reasoning was simple.  The USMNT Achilles heel in qualifying for and during the tournament in South Africa was the first twenty or so minutes of each game.  More often than not the Americans fell behind quickly and had to scrap to get a result.  Credit to Bradley that he was able to motivate his troops time after time, to fight back from these habitual early deficits, but I believe it was the manager and not the players who were responsible for the trend in the first place.

When it comes to world-class talent, the Yanks aren’t exactly awash in the stuff, but they do have a deep enough pool of capable players and have compensated for their lack of pedigree by developing the strongest training regimen of any international squad.  When another country steps on the pitch with the Americans, they know they’re going to have to do a lot more running in order to match the tempo of their opponent.  Bradley has had a lot to do with developing the fitness of the squad.

The US needs less thinking and more knowing from their manager.

What he hasn’t developed, however, are sound tactics to go with all the speed, strength and endurance.  That, in my opinion, is why his teams tend to fall behind repeatedly.  He never seems to get the formation or selection correct and is consistently making substitutions at the intermission or sooner, rather than at the hour mark or beyond, as is the norm.

It was no surprise to me, then, that while they were polite about it, given the nationality of their owner, Aston Villa were never really interested in Bradley replacing Martin O’Neill.  When Jürgen Klinsmann once again entered the frame as a possible successor to Bradley, who was making sufficient noises about greener pastures, I dared hope that his hiring would actually come to pass this time.  Here was a manager who had some success tactically and whose downfall at Bayern had much to do with his embrace of American (fitness) training methods.  As Klinsmann lived in California, it seemed the perfect job and an opportunity for the US to take the next step towards becoming one of the international elite.

Unfortunately, USSF President Sunil Gulati was again using the German as a stalking horse to secure Bradley for another four-year cycle under more favourable terms.  Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, boy am I an idiot.

So here I am, Stateside, stuck with another four years long on potential and short on kinetic.  Bradley’s hopes for 2014 seem to be pinned on hulking center back Oguchi Onweyu, who will be 31 that summer and, at the moment, can’t get any time with Milan and refuses to go to a club which will play him or where the fans will not be bothered about the pigment of his skin.  One has to wonder, too, whether he did himself any favours by putting Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his place in a training ground dust-up.

On the other hand, Ibra should have done some more thinking.

Up front, Clint Dempsey will be 31 and Landon Donovan 32 when the tournament rolls around.  In the midfield, the highly touted Jermaine Jones, of Schalke, will also have passed the big 3-0 when the Maracana beckons.  No worries there, however.  If his career to date, as a poor man’s Owen Hargreaves is any indication, he will still be injured.

The future of the USMNT, then, is a pair of thirty-somethings in attack, whose pace may be questionable, and another pair, one in the midfield and the other at the back, who have a track record of serious injury.  Throw in the once electrifying Charlie Davies, still trying to work himself back into form with the Sochaux Reserves in France after a horrific car crash on the eve of the US qualifying for South Africa, and there are more than a handful of large daunting ifs weighing down the hopes of Sam’s Army.

Given that, it’s no small wonder that Bradley will be looking at Green Point Stadium, in Cape Town, as an oversized petri dish in which he can mix and match several new faces to see how they react to the international stage.  There will be no Donovan or Dempsey, no Onweyu or Bocanegra, no Michael Bradley, and no Tim Howard or Marcus Hahnemann.  There won’t even be any of the fringe players from South Africa, such as Stuart Holden, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber or Jay DeMerit.

We’re talking bottom of the barrel here.  The only members of the WC squad making the trip will be left back Jonathan Bornstein, who gave every US fan nightmares throughout qualifying with his porous defending and reluctance to attack, Robbie Findley, the Real Salt Lake speedster, who can beat anyone to a loose ball only to give it right back to the other side and Jonathan Spector, utility defender and benchwarmer extraordinaire for West Ham (!!).

This is what I’m talking about with Bradley’s selection.  These are the unreliable on whom the manager will depend to provide guidance for an extremely raw squad.

To be fair, there are plenty of interesting prospects among the youngsters selected.  Juan Agudelo, 17, came on and impressed for NY Red Bull when Thierry Henry went down.  KC forward Teal Bunbury, Canadian born but deciding to ply his trade in America (and who can blame him when I do it myself?) both have the look of future stars.  There are others, too, like Tim Ream of the Red Bulls and Eric Lichaj of Villa.   It’s just worrying to see them under the influence of Bornstein, Findley and Spector.

Forget tinkering, Mosimane wants a result.

Bradley’s opposite number for Bafana Bafana will be Pitso Mosimane.   The 46-year-old Saffer was Carlos Alberto Parreira’s second at the WC and has now taken the helm.  He has 7 previous seasons of experience leading South African side Super Sport, in the domestic league.

Mosimane might be taking this match more seriously than his counterpart, having called a number of European players, including Everton’s Steven Pienaar, into the squad.  Other familiar faces to WC viewers will be keeper Itumeleng Khune and the dreadlocked attacking midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala, both of the Kaizer Chiefs.

Given Bafana Bafana’s early exit as hosts of WC 2010, it should be no surprise that they will be looking for a morale boost ahead of qualification for the 2012 Cup of Nations in Gabon.

Martin follows up on the match here

bob bradley, eric lichaj, juan agudelo, oguchi onweyu, pitso mosimane, siphiwe tshabalala, steven pienaar, teal bunbury, tim ream, usmnt