Ryan Guy Fills in for Clyde Simms in a new role for New England Revolution

By Kevin Koczwara

 

Clyde Simms does more work than it sometimes appears for the New England Revolution. The former D.C. United holding midfielder sits just in front of the Revolution defense and behind Shalrie Joseph and the rest of the midfield. He’s the anchor, the player who picks up the scraps and fills the void left between the midfield and defense,  the area where forwards thrive. But left ankle tendonitis kept him out of Saturday’s game against the Houston Dynamo. That meant New England needed to find another heartbeat in the midfield to work with Joseph, who has abandoned his defensive midfield role for a more box-to-box approach in recent seasons.

Step up Ryan Guy.

Bradley Picks His Strikers for South Africa

Courtesy Alison Ciarleglio of APC Studio

By Kevin Koczwara

Bob Bradley had to make a tough call the other day: he had to let seven players know they weren’t going to be traveling to South Africa for the World Cup. Bradley cut his 30-man preliminary roster down to the final 23 a week before the June 3 deadline set by FIFA.

Bradley had some difficult choices to make as he had to pear down his roster and let seven of his players know that they would not be living a dream at the World Cup. Bradley’s squad has some injury questions, most notably at the striker position with the absence of Charlie Davies from the squad because of injury and lack of match fitness.

A Closer Look at The Yanks World Cup Roster

Courtesy wjarrettc Flickr

By Ryan Fleming

Bob Bradley didn’t have much of a choice. He was forced to leave Charlie Davies, the star forward of the United States Men’s National Team and French-side, Sochaux, out of the 30-man preliminary roster, which the USMNT’s manager presented yesterday at 2 p.m.

The young, fiery striker has not played a competitive match since he was seriously injured in a fatal car accident last October. Recently, he has been fueled by a possible World Cup placement on the US squad, but now he’ll have to wait.

USMNT Announces 30 Man World Cup Roster

By Kevin Koczwara

Today United States Men’s National Team manager, Bob Bradley, announced the 30 players he is taking to Princeton, NJ to train and try-out for the squad for that will be going to the World Cup in South Africa in 30 days.

The USMNT’s final roster can only have 23 players on it come June, but Bradley would like to evaluate what he believes are his best 30 options and see who fits where. Then he will have to make his final cut. Why not just the name 23 he wants to go to South Africa now like some countries are doing? Well, Bradley has a lot of injury concerns to address within the squad. So, he needs time to assess each and every player before he names his final roster.

Bradley Has Some Forward Thinking To Do

By Ryan Fleming

The United States Men’s National team had a good thing going for a while. Charlie Davies and Jozy Altidore were set to be the starting forwards while Brian Ching was expected to provide some relief on the bench. If USMNT manager, Bob Bradley, didn’t know how fast things could change, he does now.

The roller coaster, which could describe Bradley’s tenure as manager of the national team, took a steep dive downhill when Davies was severely injured in a fatal car accident on Oct. 13th. The accident left Davies almost crippled, one of the passengers, Ashley J. Roberta, was killed and another passenger was taken to the hospital for treatment after their car struck guardrail.

Lately, there have been rumors about Davies losing his race for fitness with the World Cup just a little more than a month away. Recently, on his twitter, he has been acknowledging words of encouragement, which he is receiving hourly. Davies is now practicing with his club, French side, Sochaux, almost limitless.

U.S. v El Salvador: Who Saw Their Stock Get a Major Lift

By Kevin Koczwara

The United States Men’s National team had a much needed trial game against El Salvador. It was a game for players on the bubble to make a case for their spot on the 23-man roster for the World Cup in June. The players who make the cut after the El Salvador game will surely be invited to the friendly next week against the Netherlands.

World Cup Draw Part 2: Groups C & D

By Kevin Koczwara

Today I will be discussing groups C & D of The World Cup. These are the groups with top-seeded England and Germany. These could also be the most unusual groups with some foreseeable upsets.

Lets start with the United States and England group that also features the underrated Slovenia squad.

The U.S. Qualifies For 2010 World Cup

By Kevin Koczwara

Honduras has not been an easy place to play in this round of the CONCACAF qualifying, to say the least. No body has beaten the war torn country at Francisco Morazan so far, and the Honduras team hadn’t lost at home in 17 consecutive matches. And The United States National team looked to be dead in the water early on, giving away a free kick outside the box lead to a Honduras goal and a 1-0 lead. The “Yanks” (I hate that nickname and will not use it ever again) collected themselves and ended the highly entertaining game with a 3-2 victory.

Bob Bradley took a chance starting Connor Casey against Honduras, but it paid off in a big way. Leaving Jozy Altidore on the bench was a hard decision, but one that had to be made. Now Bradley has another task on his hands, who can he find to fill in for Charlie Davies? (Courtesy Wikicommons)

Giving up an early goal is a place the United Stats has been before. In fact the U.S. National team has made it a habit to fall behind early on in matches. They have been behind 6 out of their last 10 matches. Giving up an early goal has become a calling card of theirs in a way. It is a good thing that the team has learned to rebound from early deficits, but the sign of a true world power is one that doesn’t have to come from behind, a team that controls play, dominates possession and puts the ball in the back of the net without letting any in their own.

The United States need to start to become a team that can control a game from start to finish while keeping an opponent on its back like a hapless turtle. The United States needs to start showing positive signs going into next years World Cup. The squad needs to mature and start playing real football, rather than the kick and chase style they implement a lot of times now.

The game in Honduras was big step for the squad, it showed that they could win in Hostile environments. The World Cup will be one giant hostile environment. Assuming that Americans jump on the bandwagon in a HUGE way in the next year, the US squad will have fewer supporters than most countries competing. So, the United States needs to start to adapt, and become adept in fighting off large crowds, home field environments, and surges from other squads.

Hopefully tonight we will see a determined and controlled US side control the play of the game against Costa Rica. It won’t be easy as Costa Rica is fighting for the third spot in CONCACAF and an automatic bid to the World Cup. If Costa Rica loses and Honduras wins, then they will have to play the fifth seeded team from South America–could be Uruguay, Argentina or Peru, not any teams that a CONCACAF team would want to face for qualification.