Right back... to the past

Yesterday, a Soccernet article celebrated the rebirth of Frankie Hejduk as a defender for the Men's National Team. The article's author, Ives Galarcep, is a respected analyst of the goings-on of the US soccer scene. But while his articles are typically fair, this time Ives has drunk too much of the Kool-Aid.

Right back is a funny position, sort of like playing third base for the Mets - it's traditionally a place to put the least-skilled defender. And Hejduk is, as those who have watched games with me know, a defender of limited talent when it comes to the international game.

Let's be clear: he is definitely a good MLS player with an impressive work rate, and he has speed to spare. But MLS is not the international stage, which requires a whole other level or more to be competent, much less good.

We grant that there aren't many defenders in the world with the speed to race back from 20 yards away, and catch a breakaway Trinidadian striker on full stride. Hejduk's tackle was perfectly timed and saved at least an opportunity for TnT to shoot on goal. Of course in the next match v El Salvador, it was Hejduk's header that saved a point for the MNT late in the match.

He has done enough recently to make him difficult to overlook. On top of that, you have to credit his unbridled enthusiasm and genuine patriotism that he exhibits while wearing the Stars and Stripes.

But all that does not make up for the fact that he isn't a good defender. By his own admission - which he has stated several times, including in the Soccernet piece - what he offers is speed, grit and competitiveness. These are all excellent qualities but without the requisite talent, it's a waste of a roster spot. There is a reason, after all, that El Salvador is not ranked in the top 100. We ain't talking Holland here, folks.

Our insistence on using British coaching at the youth level means that we have generations of soccer fans who value "work rate" over skill. The ever-amusing columnist John Nicholson made a point of how silly it is that this particular attribute is so highly rated in England.

But despite all this, my problem is not with Hejduk, or even the coaching staff that keeps selecting him. Choosing Hejduk is a result of thin talent. Once Steve Cherundolo went down, there was no one to step in.

Frankie Simek and Jonathan Spector, two young talents, are too often injured to really count on them. (Soccernet mentions Marvell Wynne but the less said about that, the better.) So there is no choice but to include Hejduk in the mix for South Africa 2010.

My issue lies with Ives Galarcep and the rest of the so-called soccer writers in the US. At what point are we going to introduce honest criticism into the soccer world? I'm not calling for the ridiculous pilings-on that happens in Madrid, London or Milan. We don't need the sorts of analysis that is applied to the Yankees by the New York press.

But there is rarely any criticism applied to actions of the MNT. The fact that Hejduk is one of the few choices for right back on the national team is a problem, but not a unique one to the US. When England lose Rio Ferdinand, they don't have many options to replace him. There aren't many teams like Holland, who are two deep in many positions. But when a starter goes down, there are discussions galore about replacement possibilities.

(For that matter, while I like Cherundolo, it's not as if he's going to make anyone forget 1970 World Cup winner and perhaps greatest right back ever Carlos Alberto.)

We used to have this problem at striker, where Eric Wynalda's constant bellyachings and limited talents went overlooked because there was no one else. At least we have gotten past that - Landon Donovan comes in for a fair share of criticism, and rightly so.

Who knows if these criticisms affect players? Surely some react to comments made about them, and I'm sure more are affected than admit to it. But the point is that when we have a problem, there is no one to speak out about it in the mainstream US soccer media.

Criticism is good because it prevents the criticized from resting on his respective laurels. So add another measure we need to reach before we can become a serious soccer country.