Bob Bradley owes me money

If you don't follow soccer, the USA played Spain on Saturday in Foxboro, MA. Following a 7-hour flight from Utah and a 25 mile drive from Boston, I was in attendance.

***HISTORY LESSON:

Spain won the World Cup last year and boasts one of the deeper and more talented rosters in recent memory. Two years ago, the Americans pulled off a shocking 2-0 upset of Spain, ending Spain's record unbeaten streak of 35 straight games, including 15 consecutive victories.

With that upset in mind, Spain brought their best squad, minus a few injuries, and many thought they'd be out for revenge. On the flip side, US supporters viewed this as an opportunity to prove the 2-0 win wasn't a fluke and that US soccer is for real.

After watching the game, I came to the following conclusion: Head Coach Bob Bradley owes me money.


When the starting lineups were revealed, it was clear Spain was out for blood, yet the American's lineup looked more like a team who thought they couldn't win with their best lineup, so instead they trotted out their "C" team.

This is why Bob Bradley owes me, and a lot of other people, money. I flew across country, rented a car, hotel and committed a lot of time, money and, as cheesy as it sounds, emotion to this game. To show up to see players start who shouldn't even been on the roster, is an insult.

Bradley, who many were not in favor of returning following the previous world cup, didn't start his two most consistent offensive players, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley (Landon Donovan was sick), or his two most steady defenders in Steve Cherundolo and team captain Carlos Bocanegra.

Dempsey, who set an American record for goals scored in the English Premiere League this year with 13, is the US's most creative and dangerous offensive player, while Bradley has been the teams' most steady holding midfielder for quite some time now.

Defensively, Bocanegra has captained the squad for years, and Cherundolo is playing top notch soccer in Germany. Excluding these players from the starting lineup was a decisions straight out of the twilight zone.

These exclusions were compounded when Bradley started Sasha Klestian and Robbie Rogers in the midfield. Neither player is a top 25 player in the US system, yet both found their way into the starting eleven for one of the most important and prestigious games of the past several years.

To make matters worse, Bradley then started Tim Ream at center back, for the first time ever, and paired him with another inexperienced player in left back Eric Lichaj. Both of these guys have excellent chances to start for the US in the 2014 World Cup, however, neither has played any meaningful minutes as members of the US's best starting eleven.

If Bradley wanted to try these two out, he should have surrounded them by Cherundolo and Bocanegra, and been sure to start his best midfielders to help hold the ball more which would have limited Spain's touches and opportunities to attack.

Spain, by the way, happens to complete more passes and possess the ball more than any other team in the world right now. Starting Ream and Lichaj, next to a mediocre Johnathon Spector and Oguchi Onyewu, was a set up for failure.

The defense gave up four goals. Two came from point blank in front of the net, while the other two were the result of balls easily played over the top of the defense; none of which extremely talented keeper Tim Howard had any real chance of stopping.

Bradley DID made the right move by starting young forwards Jozy Altidore and Juan Agudelo, however, gave them almost zero chance at success by starting them with a completely overmatched and inexperienced midfield.

For either to be successful, they need solid service from the midfield. Instead, Bradley started a backup group of midfielders, and, as expected, Altidore and Agudelo were never put in a situation to put the ball in the back of the net. Agudelo looked calm on the ball and flashed moments of potential danger, but simply didn't have the help around him to do much.

By the time Dempsey and Bradley came on as second half subs, the game was out of hand at 3-0. Still, the moment they entered the game, the US became much more dangerous. Dempsey and Bradley connected well with each other, moved the ball forward more frequently, held and retained possession for longer periods of time and ultimately put the players around them in situations to succeed.

Unfortunately, their effect was limited because, right as Bradley brought the calvary in off the bench, he tried another dreadful experiment by removing Jozy Altidore in favor of unproven Chris Wondolonalski, who immediately disappeared. Bradley should have left in Altidore or brought on Teal Burnbry, who, when teamed up with Agudelo in recent games, has looked very dangerous.

The moment Bradley made the right move in the midfield, he cancelled it out by making the wrong one with his forwards. It was liking watching someone insert the missing pieces to one side of a puzzle, while simultaneously dismantling the other side.

Across the board, Bradley's decisions left many US soccer fans calling for his job. The US simply doesn't have the luxury of experimenting in games like this one. Every big game is a chance for another upset which would increase the teams' visibility and credibility around the world.

This game had the potential to build excitement for US soccer. We have the players to not necessarily outman Spain, but to play even in stretches and, as the 2-0 win proved two years ago, catch them off guard in the right moments.

To do that, the right players need to be on the field for the US. On Saturday afternoon in Foxboro, the right players were never on the field at the same time.

So, yes, after traveling across the country and spending over a thousand dollars to watch our "C" squad get dismantled by Spain, Bob Bradley owes me money.

I haven't tallied the exact bill yet, but once I do, Bob Bradley will be the first to hear from me.