There are 101 days left before the World Cup. The United States will kick off against England one day later, meaning Bob Bradley will have exactly one hundred days to prepare his team when the take the field to play the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Wednesday.
What the first hundred days are to a newly inaugurated president, with the down-to-the-smallest-detail planning to best push through and initiate the policies and programs most important to them, the last hundred days of World Cup preparation, with the down-to-the-smallest-detail scouting and training efforts, are to US National Team head coach Bob Bradley.
Bradley's problem is that he'll have little chance to see his team work together before June; the Netherlands match happens with almost no prior training, as players filter in from their clubs around the Europe and North America. This isn't unique to the US, as the nature of international soccer requires doing as much as possible in small windows of time; while Mexico has scheduled a veritable slew of friendlies for the run-up to South Africa, they'll rarely (if ever) have a full squad that represents the team they'll be taking to the tournament. Wednesday is the only FIFA date on the schedule before May.
The information Bradley takes in on Wednesday will be only a small part of the greater whole that will help him decide which players will make the cut. Part performance with while in the USA shirt, part club form over the next three months, part fitness and part necessity (i.e., replacing an injured first choice player), the criteria used to choose players is complex and ever-evolving. This makes World Cup team is a delicate recipe, prone to being spoiled by one or two wrong decisions made at the wrong time. Make a mistake in how you handle the build up or egos (see the US in '98 and '06), and it can all go horribly wrong; get it just right, and surprising things can happen.
The heat on Bradley will rise significantly beginning Wednesday, with just one hundred days to go.
Assessing the situation moment, with that notable (meaning nice and round) milestone coming up:
The Good
The return of Maurice Edu. Mo scored the game winner against Celtic on Sunday, will certainly play (if not start) in Amsterdam on Wednesday, and provides Bradley with a strong, athletic, box-to-box midfield option to play along side Michael Bradley.
Ascendant options. Torres, Holden, and Johnson are all playing well and with confidence in their respective club situations; Holden and Torres may battle for a spot, or could both find themselves in the team, while Johnson could emerge from no where to take over the striker spot that no one else has yet claimed in Charlie Davies' absence.
The Bad
Injuries. Not much more to say, though it's not as bad as it seemed just a few weeks ago. Onyewu is close to resuming training, Cherundolo is not on the roster but is in Amsterdam to train with the team, and Dempsey is on his way back. Still, those missing contributors makes this week's team slightly different than what Bradley will hope to play with in South Africa, lessening the import of the Netherlands match.
The USMNT returns to the field Wednesday, the last day that the countdown clock for World Cup 2010 will read triple digits. Things will only get more intense from here.
