Bob Bradley Vs. Marcello Lippi

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

I want to talk about the coaching ability of Bob Bradley in comparison to the ability of the Italian coach Marcello Lippi. In the past year or so, it has become apparent to me that the U.S. really has a problem when it comes to their coaching staff.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of Bob Bradley, I think he’s a great guy, a good steward of the national team, in fact, he’s probably the best American manager currently out there. The problem is that at his best he is nothing more than a pretty decent coach.

Never has this fact been more glaring that in Monday’s loss to Italy. He was completely outcoached by a colleague with superior skills. For the average fan, Lippi’s substitutions were masterful, especially bringing on young striker Giuseppi Rossi. However, the way in which Lippi changed his team’s style of play to start the second half directly led to the Italian dominance.

Lippi understood what the mentality of the Americans would be starting the second half. Ahead 1-0 and down a man after the Ricardo Clark red card, emphasis would be placed on preserving the lead and only getting forward when opportunities presented themselves. Lippi played his team against this mentality and within five minutes it was starting to work. The Americans started the second half playing like they had at end of the first, but Lippi had his team break up U.S possession and then hold the ball in the middle third.

Just across the half line is where the Italians would begin to break down the U.S. defense, passing across the field and slowly pushing all 10 U.S. players into their defensive third. After 10 minutes, any attacking threat the U.S. might have mustered was long gone, playing in a defensive shell in hopes to preserve the 1-0 lead. It was at this point that Lippi made his attacking substitutions taking off players who skills were no longer needed on the field. (This plays into the fact that the Italian team is deep with talent, they don’t have a best 11 players, they have a best 18 players that they can mix and match at anytime to exploit other teams).

At this point the damage had been done. If it were a game of chess, Lippi just put Bradley in check, all that was left was just a few more rounds and then…checkmate.

Bradley should have had his team prepared for what Lippi would do. Bradley should have had his players mentally focused on taking it to the Italians. To keep taking risks, to keep the pressure. Instead, he took a page from the U.S. soccer coaches handbook: “Preserve the lead, defend, and wait for opportunities to counterattack.” You hear it all the time in American sports, “Defense wins championships.”

Unfortunately, that’s not always how it works in the world’s game. You see, in baseball, basketball and American football each team always gets a turn. (It’s very fair, isn’t it?) In basketball each team gets 24 seconds to score then the other team gets 24 seconds, called the shot clock. In baseball, your team gets three outs, and then the other team gets three outs. In American football, it’s four downs, then the other team gets four downs. That’s not how it works in soccer. Neither team is guaranteed their turn to attack, to get a chance on goal. It’s not fair, and that’s part of why they call it the beautiful game.

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