Friday, June 18, 2010

Father's Day gift for Bob Bradley


Two of the biggest stars of the US National team on the World's biggest stage today were head coach Bob Bradley and midfielder/son Michael Bradley.


Bob made key adjustments at halftime to lead the US back to a 2-2 tie after going down 0-2 in the first half.


Michael scored the tying goal by banging in a great goal in the 82nd minute.


Michael Bradley of the New York Daily News wrote a great column recently about the 'Bradley Boys', and about the great father's day gift that Michael has given his dad.


If there was a time for any man to be boastful about his son, this was it. After all, it isn't every day that your son scores twice in a World Cup qualifying game, let alone against archrival Mexico. But this is much more complicated than just a father saying how proud he is about his son.

The father was Bob Bradley, coach of the U.S. National Team. The son, Michael, a midfielder on the team that defeated the Mexicans for the third consecutive time in this city by a 2-0 score in Columbus, Ohio on February 11th, 2009.

Beyond Michael becoming only the fourth American to score two goals against Mexico in qualifiers dating back to 1934, the junior Bradley played a fine all-around game as defensive or holding midfielder, helping key a midfield that dominated Mexico. But when he was asked whether he was proud of his son's performance, Bob did his best to downplay the question.

“Right now I’m the coach, it’s about the team," he said at Columbus Crew Soccer Stadium. "When you coach at a professional level there’s a way that you want to do the work. There is an environment that you create and you want to establish a high level of being a pro in terms of what the right mentality is. The one thing that happens with Michael is that he gets a steady dose of that, not only when he’s in with the team but in terms of the father-son relationship that we’ve had."

“I have three children," Bradley continued, "and I have to say that I’m proud of all my kids. I have a great family and I’m a lucky man.”

This Sunday being Father's Day, what better than to celebrate with the leading father-son combination of US Soccer and US soccer.

"Everything I do, the way I talk about soccer and the way I look at it and they way I play, it's come from him," Michael said.

In fact, it many ways, it's like father, like son.

"He and his dad are just alike," US forward Jozy Altidore said. "Bob's just a bit older than him. On the soccer they're both very intense. They have so much passion for the game. They really just eat, breath and sleep soccer. Michael loves the game. He loves talking about it. He loves talking about new ideas. The subject for them never gets old. And it's really refreshing to see that in American players and coaches. I think he's a great kid, has a great head on his shoulders and loves to work hard. What more can you ask?"

Growing up in an athletic family, it was only natural that Michael picked up the game at an early age. One of Michael's uncles, Scott Bradley, played pro baseball for teams such as the New York Yankees. His other uncle, Jeff Bradley, is a sportswriter and writes for ESPN The Magazine.

Due to his responsibilities as head coach at Princeton University in New Jersey, assistant coach with DC United or head coach with the Chicago Fire, Bob could not coach Michael at the youth level, like many fathers have done with their sons and daughters.

"He was always around," Michael said. "He would always come and join in training sessions. He would come watch all the games. He would play a lot of times. The different clubs I played for, everybody loved that."

But the 22-year-old Michael had the ultimate personal coach - his father. No one influenced Michael more as a player.

"The way I look at the game, the way I play, it's all been influenced through things that we experienced together," he said. "I speak to him every day and I always have. I speak to him about training, about the game. Some people ask, 'Do you ever get tired talking about soccer?' No. No. Soccer for us is what we love to do. When I was little, we'd go out and play together, he'd work on things with me. He was always coming to watch my practices, the games. Even now when I'm not physically close to him, he and my mom watch the games on the internet when they can. They watch the highlights. I'll speak to him and we'll talk about the game as though we were sitting next to each other."

Michael has had other influences in his life, including Seton Hall coach Manfred Schellscheidt, also a long-time respected youth coach. There's former US international and ex-Chicago Fire midfielder Chris Armas, former Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch, now a US assistant coach, and ex-Polish international midfielder Peter Nowak, now coach of the Philadelphia Union, among others, Bob said.

"Since Michael's young, he's been around the game," he said. "He's been around good soccer people and good soccer environments. For a young kid growing up in the United States, he has had the experience of being around the game and being around good people."

Bob Bradley doesn't like to single out or talk about his son. He has been walking a tightrope about the subject since 2004, when as coach of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, he selected 16-year-old Michael 36th overall in the MLS SuperDraft. Michael had just completed his time at the US Under-17 residency camp in Bradenton, Florida. He was ready for the next challenge - professional soccer.

Michael was hampered by an injury in 2004, but became the starting defensive midfielder the next season. Ironically, he did not score his first professional until after Bob was dismissed as coach, in a playoff-clinching victory over Chivas USA in the regular-season finale.

Some MetroStars fans felt there was nepotism involved. The same thing happened when Michael started to play for his father on the National Team in 2007. Hence, Bob not trying to boost or boast about his son. However, none of Bradley's teammates felt Michael was being singled out.

"That never happened with the MetroStars," former teammate Mark Lisi said. "No one ever felt he was getting special treatment."

A few years ago, this writer was fortunate to get a comment about how proud Bob was of Michael after he joined Heerenveen of the Dutch First Division (Michael currently plays for Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Bundesliga).

"I am happy for him," Bob said. "To go to a club in Europe and to establish yourself very quickly, earn the respect of the coaches and your teammates, so that you're playing and starting in the most important games of the season, that says a lot."

"For me, it's just with what we saw the last two years, especially last year. He's got a strong mentality, understands the game. He plays well beyond his years. I really felt that last year as the season moved along that he got stronger and stronger. And that's not something you see that often with young players in MLS, especially with ones who are asked to cover that much ground and be a factor in the center of the field, where things are really hard."

"There are good starting points, good mentality, good understanding of the game," he said. "A true sense of trying to be a guy to help his team. From there... it's trying to make steady progress in every situation you're in. Trying to make sure you're called in, you earn the respect of the guys you play with every day. When you get the chances to play, you try to do the things on the field to help your team. That's how it is for all young players."

They did not say how they were going to celebrate this Father's Day together at the World Cup. True to their nature, it's the perfect setting.

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