On The Bob Bradley Extension

The Reign of Bob Continues...

US Soccer fans finally got the news they'd been waiting for with news breaking that Bob Bradley will stay on as manager of the United States Men's National Team. The decision actually caused "Bradley" to start trending in the United States, which in itself, is a great sign that people in this country actually care about who coaches their national team. From sampling some recent tweets, it would be safe to say that the majority of fans are none to pleased with Bradley's extension. 

Part of the reason I think people have such a strong reaction to Bradley is that he's just not all that interesting. Imagine Bradley as television analyst. His long, calculated, incredibly thought out responses interrupted by monotone uhhhhs definitely wouldn't transfer well over to the T.V. booth. However, that doesn't mean the guy can't get give a hell of a locker room speech. I would have love to have been a fly on the wall during Bradley's   speech at half-time after the US went down 2-0 to Slovenia in the second game of the World Cup in South Africa. Still, I for one would like to see Bob loosen up with the media a bit. The sport in this country would certainly benefit from a men's national team with some personality. 

I've heard players like Carlos Bocanegra and assistant coach Jesse Marsch talk about how Bradley loosens up off camera. From the interviews Bob has given in the past, we've occasionally gotten small glimpses of  Bradley out of his Clint Eastwood-esque poker face. I for one would be incredibly interested in seeing an interview with Bob Bradley completely devoid of anything soccer. Some of his closest friends say Bob is a funny guy and his laugh has been described as a "very, loud chortle". Chortles aside, in the next few years I hope we get a deeper look into what makes Bob tick. 

Bob doesn't need to open up to please the masses of people who don't know or care about soccer in this country, but I believe the national team's loyal fans do deserve some more accessibility to their coach. Soccer is fighting its way day-after-day into a respectable place in the American sports landscape and the sport needs to be as media savvy as possible to grow. 

US Soccer fans need to take the Bradley extension for what it is. The US men's national team has one of the most experienced, well-respected American soccer coaches at the helm. You can tell by the way our national team players talk about Bob that they love playing for the guy. And it's always hard for me to hold anything against a self-proclaimed Bruce Springsteen fan. Yes, it would be great if Jose Mourinho or Sir Alex Ferguson decided to coach our national team, but that's not happening anytime soon. 

The number one thing I'd like to see from Bradley as we begin to build towards the Gold Cup is seeing some new player brought into the full national team. I'd really like to see guys like Tim Ream, Mikkel Diskerud, Brek Shea, Jack McInerney, and Jermaine Jones in a USA shirt some time soon. Although history hasn't fared well for second term national team coaches in the World Cup, Bradley may have the qualities to learn from his mistakes and improve.

What are your thoughts on four more years of Bob Bradley? Comment below.