Sometimes you wonder if Bob Bradley is “a sort of soccer version of Rain Man,” writes Grant Wahl after an extended talk with the U.S. coach. Wahl marvels at Bradley’s precise recall of games – not just the goals, but “the entire sequences of small plays that led up to those strikes.” In an interview with Wahl, Bradley speaks about his influences and the other coaches he respects. Although Bradley speaks in typically generalized terms, he reveals some of the ways he thinks about the game.
Of his worldview of the game, Bradley emphasizes the variety of experiences he has had in coaching: “I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to coach on different levels. Those experiences help. The experience of coaching some really top players along the way is important, because your ability then to get across ideas and know that they’ve been at the top and make sure that the things you see in the game fit with things that they see in the game. Those are all important. I think like most coaches you have this combination of experiences, some of which come from your own work and then when you watch other teams in training, when you watch teams play, when you see what the game is like on the higher levels, you’re constantly trying to move things further along. But it’s the combination of all those experiences that get you to the point where now on the one hand you have your own ideas, but the game is always challenging you to stay fresh.”
Bradley explains why he respects coaches like Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson, Chelsea’s Carlo Ancelotti, and Inter Milan’s Jose Mourinho. For example, Bradley talks about the way Mourinho handles players well. “His teams seem to have a real team spirit,” Bradley says. “They compete, but he’s got a good feel for dealing with different kinds of players, getting the most out of guys. You always get a sense that the guys that have played for him along the way appreciated what it was like to play for him. So that’s important. You put all these things together, you combine them with your own experiences. When you’ve coached players like Peter Nowak, Lubos Kubik, Hristo Stoitchkov and Youri Djorkaeff, and now on top of it, players that have strong ideas. I think it’s always been something that you appreciate. Within the teams that I’ve worked with, I always appreciate people who come in and aren’t afraid to say what they’re thinking and have ideas. And then that challenge you and you challenge them. That type of working environment, I think, is pretty important.”