USMNT: Conventional Wisdom

I'm in no way belittling this reporter's work, or accusing him of unoriginal thinking, but an article MLSnet.com linked to in their Newsstand feature crystallizes what I'd dub the operating conventional wisdom on the U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) after their first game under Bob Bradley.

A guy named Simon Provan wrote the article for the Daily Texan and, as I read it, it's all there: the emphasis on the "new boys" with Justin Mapp as the stand-out, Donovan's slow start, Pablo Mastroeni's capable, but high-risk command of the midfield, and Eddie Johnson's clumsy irrelevance - though, in an added twist, Provan mentions E.J.'s seeming indifference to his sub-par play.

There's more detail in the article, of course, but that's where things appear to be, really. We'll have to see if anything changes after the game against Mexico.

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