The Problem With Michael Bradley
Michael Bradley might have been the most talked about U.S. player for the past couple of weeks. Most of the chatter has been negative, mainly stemming from the belief that he cost the U.S. a win against Portugal. And rightly so.
If Michael Bradley doesn’t lose the ball in this situation…
…then this does not happen:
But is it fair to judge a player based off one poor play? No. Furthermore, is Bradley actually as bad as the criticism has made him seem? Probably not. At the same time, however, Bradley put up three pretty bad performances and his one good performance was negated by the play above and this missed goal opportunity:
Already, the defense of Michael Bradley is loud and alive. These are some pro-Bradley arguments I’ve heard:
- Coming into the tournament Bradley was supposed to be our best field player, but he’s only playing poorly now because Altidore’s injury forced him to play in a position he’s not accustomed to.
- He’s actually played well, but because of a few costly mistakes, it appears like he’s playing worse than he is.
- And, he’s traveled the most distance of any player in the group stage — 23.6 miles.
I’ll grant the first argument to the Bradley supporters. Playing in a position one isn’t used to, against the toughest competition in the world, isn’t an easy task. The second two points, however, I don’t buy.
Because goals and quality chances are so limited, mistakes in soccer are magnified. Lose the ball in the midfield when your entire team is pressing forward, then the other team is bound to get a quality look on goal. Miss a point-blank shot with the keeper out of the goal, you’re probably not going to get another chance at a goal quite like that.
My point is, judging a player off a few mistakes in soccer is entirely fair. It’s different for other sports. If a quarterback misses an open receiver on first down, he’s going to have a few more chances to hit that receiver again. If a shooter misses an open 3-pointer, she’s going to have another open 3 at some point in the game.
You don’t get those chances back in soccer. While Bradley does just fine passing the ball around the midfield, there were several moments in the tournament when he possessed the ball during a crucial counterattack. These are the most creative of situations. The entire team is rushing forward and the defense is backtracking. The person on the ball has the most difficult task, to distribute the ball in such a way that it frees up a scoring opportunity. Typically, a simple pass won’t do the trick. The ball may need to be placed in the perfect spot, weighted with the perfect amount of pace. A coach would usually prefer the ball to be with his central midfielder in moments like these.
Bradley had these opportunities in the World Cup. And, more often than not, his pass got away from him.
A friend of mine pointed out to me during the Belgium game that most of Bradley’s passes are a great deal more difficult than normal passes. That’s true. But a central midfielder for a top national team needs to complete those passes. Bradley showed he can do it on occasion — his pass to Julian Green in overtime was perfect — but more often than not he failed to do the job.
I don’t usually agree with La Canfora, but in this case he’s right. Stop telling me how far Bradley ran. The knock against Bradley the last four games wasn’t about his effort or energy level. I’m in complete agreement that Bradley works hard. The problem I have with the tracking of how far players run is that it doesn’t measure if the player is using his energy wisely.
There must have been two instances in every game where Bradley would lose the ball or someone else on the team would, and the other team would possess the ball in its own end. Instead of just dropping back onto defense, Bradley would put his head down and motor after the ball, chasing it like a headless chicken. Not only is that a waste of energy, but it also means that Bradley is out of position once the defense plays it up to the midfield. Bradley is far up the field, playing catch up as the ball moves into the USMNT’s half.
