While I have you, I figure I should ask what you make of Alejandro Bedoya's move to Philadelphia.
[I warned you this was coming, and here it is.]
Well, I've never wavered on this: I don't really feel that he's that great of a player. I've always questioned - well, not always, but at least at times, I've questioned his selection to the national team [for] some of the bigger games that he's had, even at the Gold Cup level.
You know, he's a guy that seems to be really likable, a lot of the guys on the national team consider him a friend. He loves to have an opinion about stuff. I think it might have been a little bit more of a personal decision to come home.
He had a couple of unfortunate plays the other night [in his Union debut at New England] - I know his team won 4-0, but I was watching him with a very analytical eye, and he didn't particularly play well at all. It will be interesting to see what kind of effect it has on him going forward, especially with the national team.
Because let's face it, when you're playing in Europe, for the current national team coach, his opinion is that if you're in Europe, that is better than playing in Major League Soccer. That is his opinion, he's said that on numerous occasions. And he's been influential with some players in telling them to go to Europe and not to play here. This decision from Alejandro will be serious, because Bedoya has been one of Klinsmann's favorites for a while.
Union manager Jim Curtin seems to want to play Bedoya in a deeper midfield role than Klinsmann played Bedoya in during the Copa América Centenario. Bedoya was at the top of the midfield triangle for the national team this summer. If he succeeds in a deeper role -
We'll see. When the United States national team plays against what I would call the second-tier teams, he's going to be able to have an influence on those kinds of games. And [they are] difficult battles as well. In the [World Cup] qualification process, Alejandro has always proved that he has the engine, and I think that hurts him sometimes because people want to take advantage of that engine and say, "Well, this guy can get back and go forward."
And when you have a couple of games where you want to solidify your defense but you still want to have the guy that can join the attack, he would certainly be that guy. But my opinion is that in big games against the better teams in the world, I think that might be one notch above his level.
I know that's pretty harsh, but that's just my opinion. I hope he proves me wrong. But he really hasn't done anything to date to prove it to me just yet.
But if he succeeds in a deeper midfield role for the Union, could that perhaps open a pathway for him to play that role with the national team, which in turn would free up minutes at the high midfield playmaker positions for someone like Darlington Nagebe or Christian Pulisic?
That was one of the criticisms of Klinsmann's use of Bedoya in the high role at the Copa América - not that Bedoya didn't contribute, because he did, but that him being in that role specifically was a major factor in Nagbe and Pulisic not getting much playing time.
The reasons for that [include] that if you were to test these guys on their "engine" and on their ability to oxidate their blood and all those tests they run - it's not just the VO2 Max and all that stuff they used to do. They do a whole bunch of stuff. They test your blood, they see what kinds of minerals you've got in there. All that stuff would put Alejandro Bedoya in first place. Which is the reason why he consistently makes it into the team.
Now, do I believe that there are better players out there in this country who in the offensive third will be able to have that little clever ability to break down and solve defenses, that are better options than him? I have to believe the answer to that is yes. But I think you get what you are asking for out of him: that's total commitment, all the time, and an ability to just run himself into the ground every game.
He gives everything, which is - it's always one of those stupid things where we always say, "Well, if I could only take that guy's heart and put it in the other guy's body," that kind of thing. He's in a unique spot, because he can prove himself to be a utility guy, but I don't know how impressed Jurgen will be with good performances in Major League Soccer. I'm just not sure how that all play out.