I thought I knew who Bob Bradley was, but last night he threw me a couple of curveballs, one especially that I didn't expect. Bob Bradley has been described as many things, but unpredictable has never been one of them. Watching a U.S. soccer game is usually like watching a Rocky movie, you know the plot and main characters going in, you know Rocky will at some point get a beatdown and you know he's going to train, punch some meat and then win the fight at the end of the movie (I haven't seen Rocky Balboa, so if that one isn't quite as formulaic then I apoligize).
For the last 5 years we have been treated to almost identical team selections and lineups, regardless of form or the abilities of the starting XI. His teams sit back, play defensively, and he hopes Howard pulls out a couple of world class saves and leans on Donovan or Dempsey to provide a moment of brilliance to get the W. Then came last night's games. Here were the surprises to me, in order of least surprising to most surprising: we continued with the 4-5-1 (not very surprising), Bedoya got the start (mildly surprising given his form), Kljestan got the start (surprising only because of the man he replaced), that when Kljestan was playing poorly he got subbed out at half and didn't get another chance (Bob doesn't usually make halftime subs in big games, preferring to wait til the 60 minute mark or later), Donovan wasn't in the starting lineup (when I saw this I was shocked), and Freddy Adu coming on as a sub without a significant injury having occurred and while the result was very much in doubt (I could not believe my eyes when this happened, it was completely unexpected and made me question everything I knew to be true).
Sure, he stayed true to form in that Howard came up with a couple big saves and it took a moment of brilliance from D&D to get our only goal, but vanilla Bob busted out a little neopolitan last night. The first four things on that list could be explained away as an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" move. The same exact starting XI came out for the Panama game as the Jamaica game. That was a big risk. If we lose this game, everybody is second-guessing him for leaving Landon out of the starting lineup. As a country we have rode Landon Donovan to greatness since the 2002 World Cup. Bob Bradley has gone to battle with LD in his starting XI almost every match since taking over as manager. LD is the all-time leading scorer in USMNT history and has been as dangerous as anyone in the MLS this season. He is the face of the team, he scored the Algeria goal that sent America into euphoria just one year ago. To take this player, who as far as we can tell isn't injured, and tell him to sit on the bench and watch the first half from there surprised everyone, I'm sure even Kljestan, Bedoya, and Landon.
Bob doesn't seem to like change much, but in this case not making a change was in and of itself a really big aberration from what we normally see. But then when Kljestan, seemingly one of Bob's favorites, was a little off in the first half, Bob didn't hesitate. He put Donovan in. I guess it helps to have somebody of Donovan's quality to be able to do that, but still, making a change that early is something we don't often see from Bob except in friendlies. But then when Adu came on for Agudelo I think everyone was shocked. Bob has repeatedly said that he brought Adu in to see how his development is going and how much he has progressed. Adu was left off the 18-man roster for the first two group stage games. He was as far from the field as you could be and still be on the 23-man roster. And yet, there he was at the 64th minute, standing at the half line waiting to come in.
What inspired this change? I'll never know. If Bob wanted to be ultra-conservative as it seemed he was trying to be by sticking with the exact same lineup then how can we explain this decision. Did he actually decide mid-game to change his tactics? Does he actually watch the game from the sideline? I could never tell from that unfocused stare if he was interested in what was going on on the pitch or just considering how cool he looked in his awesome track warmups. But for one night, Bob did what I thought he'd never do. He broke from his normal plan, he made bold moves. And the craziest part is they all worked out perfectly. The lone goal was created on a sweet through ball by Adu (a substitute) to Landon Donovan (a substitute), who put the ball on a rope through one defender's legs to the past two more to Dempsey, who only had to stick out a leg to get it in the back of the net. Deuce understood how great of a ball that was, and I bet if you asked him he would say Donovan deserves credit for the goal more than he does. Have you ever seen the goal scorer defer like that during the celebration to the guy who made the assist? I never have.
I still don't know what to think. For the first time in a while I have hope that this team can progress. Bob really went out on a limb last night. He made unpopular decisions that could get him fired if they turned out wrong because it seems that he felt like they were the best thing he could do. What's more, those changes make sense based on recent performances and form and resulted in a win. I don't often agree with what he does, but in answering my own question. I think last night, Bob got a little lucky, but created some of that luck by being smart. That's two games in a row that I have been impressed with his tactics. I don't think that's ever happened before. It gives me hope. Now let's see if he can do against Mexico.
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