Photo by seriouslysilly

With England’s depressing draw and the United States’ drubbing at the hands of Spain, the detractors for both managers have come out in full force once again. Fabio Capello has long been the target of the English media ever since the World Cup last summer, and Bob Bradley has always divided opinion amongst soccer fans in the US. The problem that most fans of these two sides, as well as fans of most other international sides, have is their belief that a manager for an international side works in the same way as a club manager.

To begin with, international managers do not have a great amount of leeway in picking their side. Capello can’t buy or sell players; he can merely decide the 23 players he wants to call in from a list of English footballers. Occasionally players retire from international football, or younger players grow old enough to contribute, but over the course of Capello’s tenure, the number of players he realistically can choose from is around 40.

In addition to the limited pool of players an international coach can count on, the type of players available is also a problem. An international coach can’t spend an off-season working on a position switch, or refining a player’s technique on holding the ball with his back to goal. Managers have to take players as they are, more or less. Occasionally players will play different positions for club and country, but this is often met with mixed results, and isn’t something a coach can count on. Bob Bradley has had numerous problems in the center midfield because he is trying to force one of his three defensive midfielders into a more attacking role, and none of them are able to execute the role efficiently.

Along with the type of players available, the depth and quality of players at a position can also hamper an international manager. One of most US fan’s favorite past times is to criticize whoever Bob Bradley decides to start at left back, often Jonathan Bornstein being the target of this ire. Fans often forget that Bornstein is currently the best option at left back for the US in most situations. Until a natural left back develops, or a right back becomes comfortable playing on the opposite side of the pitch, there isn’t a lot Americans can do other than hope that Bornstein doesn’t make any mistakes. The US also has problems up top with a lack of any consistent goal scoring threat since Brian McBride retired from international duty several years ago.

A final problem faced by managers is the question of selecting the best 23 players for the squad, or selecting the best players to play in a specific formation. There are advocates on both sides of the issue, and for some managers it ends up being their downfall. No England manager has ever been able to successfully fit Gerrard and Lampard into the same midfield, and numerous games may have been lost because of it. Bob Bradley spent the early part of his tenure trying to find the perfect way to fit Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey into the squad to best effect, and no one doubts they are the two most talented American internationals right now.

In the end while managers are ultimately the ones who will be judged on their sides performance, it will do well for fans to temper expectations and realize that there is only so much an international manager can do to improve his squad. A lot of it is left up to the players on the pitch.

Little more than an hour’s drive from Jose Mourinho’s reunion match with Chelsea, before the largest southern Californian soccer crowd in a decade, the Gold Coast simultaneously played host to an international friendly of a smaller scale, but a truer sense of the term.

Burnley, the tradition-rich Lancashire club which earned promotion in May’s playoff final win over Sheffield United at Wembley, pummeled its host, the Ventura County Fusion of American soccer’s fourth tier, 5-0, Tuesday night before 3,358 in a high school football stadium.

Yet the Clarets were so welcome in Ventura that Fusion general manager Ranbir Shergil proclaimed the event “the greatest night in Fusion history,” having seen his team play before the biggest crowd in its three-year history.

Come Aug. 15, Burnley will assume the role of Premier League minnows.

During its weeklong training camp at Oxnard College, its braintrust admitted that it will be running on the top tier’s smallest budget. But that doesn’t mean Burnley manager Owen Coyle doesn’t have a roadmap to survival.

“We live under no illusions,” said Coyle. “We’re going to be everybody’s favorite to be relegated… Even last year in the Championship, which consisted of 24 teams, we were in the bottom four for turnover, for revenue, for everything else.

“But we showed that you don’t have to necessary have the most money to have the best team. In the Premier League, we’ll have the lowest budget, by far and away. But we want to put together a young, energetic, vibrant team that we believe can win points and look to remain in the Premier League.”

On display in Southern California Tuesday were several of Coyle’s cheap, young recruits, including former Manchester United defender Richard Eckersley, former Newcastle United defender David Edgar and former Hibs striker Steven Fletcher, who is the club’s record signing at a reported £3 million.

Against the U.S. Premier Development League (PDL) side, Fletcher set up one goal and, from the penalty spot, scored another, his third in two preseason friendlies. But so did another young attacker in Burnley’s white change strip.

Nineteen-year-old Ecuadorian international Fernando Guerrero, a former Real Madrid reserve, shone on the left wing in his first match as a trialist. He earned the earned the 39th-minute penalty that Fletcher finishes and, seconds after hitting the post in the 70th minute, converted a diving header from Wade Elliott’s cross.

His performance surely would have convinced the tens of Burnley supporters who had traveled thousands of miles from Lancashire for the match.

“He’s a young kid with a lot to learn in the game,” said Coyle. “Certainly not the finished article. But he’s the type of player that I like. He’s exciting. We’ve got a few of them, but I like four or five of them.”

In the future, the club may be looking for those players in North America. Coyle and several Burnley directors have said that they expect the U.S. to compete for the World Cup within the next 12 years.

Burnley have already entered into a “franchise” agreement with the PDL team in Cary, N.C., now know as the “Cary Clarets.” Burnley managing director Brendan Flood hinted that the club is also interested in a similar agreement with the Ventura County club.

“We think there’s some real talent here in the US,” said Flood. “We know that that talent gets diluted by other sports. But we want to give it a route to European soccer.

“We feel like we’d like to franchise ourselves in the East Coast and West Coast and try and work more long term to source players here. In due time, we’d expect two or three players a year to be coming into the senior squad in Burnley from US links.”

The Fusion have already had one former player sign with a Premier League club this season. Former Cal Poly midfielder Anton Peterlin signed with Everton this month.

For more exclusive photographs from Burnley’s friendly against Ventura County Fusion, view the collection on Flickr or take a look at the slideshow.

Thanks to Joe Curley for the article and photographs. Read his blog for more Burnley coverage.