Well it looks like those of us who thought there would be something positive coming in this version of the Confederations Cup we’re just wishful thinking. If you thought there would be at least, maybe three points in the first two matches then I would say that I was thinking the same thing. Sadly it never happened and if you want to point towards tactics, we can discuss tactics. Can we point the finger of blame at some of the players? You bet we can and as we sharpen our fingers of blame, the one player on the field who didn’t wear the keeper gloves was showing his heart for the shirt was #10 on your program Landon Donovan.

Everything Donovan tried to do was working & sadly at times wasn’t working, but he gave 100% effort to get the USA on the scoreboard or earning a helper for a teammate to score for the USA to get one in the net. Yet once again Bob Bradley choosing players who are not fit, not in form or who just doesn’t care are being played and at the same time the future of the program like Jose Francisco Torres & Freddy Adu are sitting on the bench and keeping it warm for no reason what so ever.

Jozy Altidore who I enjoyed watching when he was here in MLS playing for the Red Bulls showed why he is our striker of the future for the National Team & had a great U-20 World Cup in Canada. His transfer to Villarreal in La Liga hasn’t been great. He was barely being used as a sub and at the time the Yellow Submarine originally said he was going to get loaned out, but that idea came late and when Xerez said they would accept the loan, the head coach said no & refused to use him. While I love to see Jozy start for the Nats I can say he doesn’t derserve it. You can see he doesn’t have the fitness nor his sharpness to sustain a full ninety and while he did create the penalty chance for the USA against Italy, those goal scoring chances he had that’s where his sharpness is lost when your club side fails to play you consistantly off the bench and you start to question why Villarreal paid a Ten Million Transfer Fee to bring him to Spain. The same goes to DaMarcus Beasley when he was injured at Rangers and Walter Smith stopped using him in the starting eleven. Apperently Beasley has developed an attitude that is negative and riding the pine at Ibrox is not an ideal thing, yet he is used while not getting any minutes.

Once again Clint Dempsey has shown that he thinks he is already a lock for the USA Squad if they qualify for the World Cup next year. Trick plays, half hearted attacks down the flank, coughing up the ball to opponents and putting his teammates in certain positions that forces them to lose the ball for no reason and helping the other side score a goal, like the Guisseppe Rossi Goal that leveled the match against Italy when Dempsey put Benny Feilhaber in a bad position in the midfield.

Now we have our sights set for the head coach. For the first time I have to say that Bob Bradley has been coaching scared since the start of the second half of the Italy match. Even though they were down a man and up a goal he foolishly went after that second goal in the second half. When Italy was making offensive subs, Bradley should’ve made defensive subs right away. And while they were getting destroyed by Brazil where was Torres? Why was he sitting on the bench and forced to twiddle his thumbs for no reason. Jose Francisco Torres who gets regular minutes for Pachuca of the Mexican league gets no minutes at all for the two big powerhouses of World Football. Is Bradley that scared he will get overwhelmed? This kid has enough confidence to take on Mexico’s best and then some, yet he’s being forced to watch these matches instead of being on the field for them.

The combination of players not being fit, those who are but don’t give a damn, playing scared against Brazil, not pulling out of tackles that lead to red cards and the coach who doesn’t know when to change things up sadly is a recipe for disaster. Forget about the Gold Cup in July right now the most important matches remaining are the five World Cup Qualifiers from August 12th till October 14th. If Bradley can’t earn at least four to seven points then it’s time to let him go, at the same time if US Soccer does decide to end it after this month I won’t lose sleep over it. But the only concern I have if Bradley does get sacked, who is going to take over the Nats? I don’t know who at the moment but these things need to be fixed quickly.