When The Only Thing That Matters is Results

Only hours away from a very anticipated debut in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, US National team head coach Bob Bradley has many unanswered questions. Our first game will be against, no less, England, one of the perennial cup favorites who manage to constantly disappoint its fans.

For this edition of the World Cup, however, England comes as a heavy favorite. In a sport where the only thing that matters around the world is results, and head coaching jobs are the most unstable positions in the world, the job security which Bob Bradley enjoys is stunning. Bradley replaced Bruce Arena, who spent eight years in front of the US National Team, at the end of 2006. Unheard of in the world of soccer. Why only in the United States are soccer coaches enjoying such longevity in their posts? Well, the quick answer is that the bulk of the sports media and fan base are focused on other "major" American sports, thus what happens in US soccer, stays in US soccer. Coaches and players are not praised when major accomplishments are achieved, let alone criticized when things don't go so well.

Bob Bradley, as the US National Team head coach, has taken the team to the world's biggest single sporting event. Excellent. But he has done it with a great share of mistakes which went mainly overlooked due to poor competition during the qualifying process in our region. But almost no one ever pointed out those mistakes, or were not important enough to make newspaper or magazine headlines. On the flip side, should some of those mistakes flourish again during the world cup, we are in for another France '98 or Germany 2006-like embarrassment at the world level.

Let's put things in perspective here. In any other country of the world Bradley would have been fired long ago. The United States had a chance to achieve world-renowned headlines and admiration in June of 2009 when it reached the FIFA Confederations Cup final against Brazil. After a stunning and unexpected 2-0 lead at halftime, Brazil was able to come back and defeat the Americans 3-2 almost exclusively on Bradley's mistakes. That would have gotten him fired anywhere else in the world. Not a word said about it in the United States. During world cup 2010 preparation every participating nation worked on their team strategies and tactics for several games prior to traveling to South Africa, while Bob Bradley, inexplicably, continued to evaluate potential roster members almost to the end of preparation. That would have caused an upheaval and uproar anywhere else in the world. Not a word said about it in the United States.

Knowing how Bradley thinks and operates he is very likely to start Oguchi Onyewu in the central defense for the US opener against England. Onyewu has not played a full ninety minute match since a serious knee injury requiring reconstructive surgery in October 2009. To even consider Onyewu on the match roster to play against the likes of England's Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Defoe or Peter Crouch is nothing short of suicide, and the start of a possible very short-lived world cup experience.

When the only thing that matters in soccer is results, it is time to let people at the head of our national teams and soccer federation know when they do not conform to soccer-like norms. It is time for all of us to become vocal and express our feelings. The last thing we want is another embarrassment when the eyes of the world are placed on our national team.

All we can do now is wish Bradley and the boys the best of luck for a successful world cup. With the players we have I am confident we can at least advance to the round of sixteen. Anything less than that will be a major disappointment.