Bradley ready for the next level

Four years ago, Michael Bradley was an 18-year-old given the golden opportunity to train with the U.S. national team during its preparations for the 2006 World Cup.

While it was believed at the time that he had a bright future as a professional, few could have envisioned how quickly he would become a key figure on the national team just four years later.

“It was great,” Bradley said of his 2006 camp experience. “It was my first time with the national team. I got to see what things were like on the inside. I got to train. I got my first two caps. The whole experience of getting ready for the World Cup was real important to me.

“Obviously I haven’t been to the World Cup but just being in the team has helped me this time around.”

A full World Cup cycle later, Bradley is an important starter in midfield for the United States at the age of 22. That might seem young, but all Bradley has done in the four years since that initial camp invite is put together an impressive club career while also establishing himself as an automatic starter for the national team.

After a very successful stint in the Dutch League with Herenveen, Bradley joined Borussia Moenchengladbach and became a regular starter, helping the team avoid relegation both years he’s been with the club.

That invaluable club experience has helped him grow quickly into a key contributor to the U.S. national team. As a tireless and tenacious central midfielder, Bradley provides an uncompromising edge in the middle of the field, and he has also shown a penchant for playing well in big matches, as evidenced by his performances in wins against Mexico, Egypt and Spain last year.

“When you get to know Michael, and you see how much he cares, and you see how hard he works, there was only going to be one outcome, and that was going to be successful for him,” Donovan said. “He’s now become an absolute staple in our team and when he doesn’t play it definitely hurts us.”

Bradley rarely misses national team matches, with his absences often a product of yellow and red cards. He has earned a reputation for having a temper and for taking porly-timed cards due to over-aggressiveness.

His track record does have its evidence. He has received two red cards during his national team career, one in the 2007 Gold Cup semifinal facing Canada, and last summer against Spain in the Confederations Cup semifinal. He also missed a vital match in the 2008 Olympics as well as last summer’s World Cup qualifier with Honduras due to yellow card accumulation.

“I am who I am as a player,” Bradley said when asked about his history of accumulating cards. “Part of that is being aggressive and bringing an edge to the center of the field. The second that goes away I’m giving something away on the field.

“It can’t be done in a stupid way because then you’re hurting your team more than you’re helping your team," Bradley said. “But that competitiveness and aggressiveness always has to be there.”

Bradley also downplayed the notion that referees treat American players differently or unfairly.

“I think it’s something (the media) makes more of an issue out of,” Bradley said. “As players you want to be aware of how refs are refereeing games, the way FIFA has started to look at different types of plays and whether they should be yellow cards, red cards, penalties. So you want to be aware of that.”

“We don’t want to in a situation where we’re playing long stretches down a guy, where we’re going into games and guys are suspended,” Bradley said.

“At the same time you have to play. Part of what makes us a good team, part what makes us good players is the aggressiveness, the hard edge that we play with, so to just toss that out the window will change who we are as a team.

“So like I said, we want to always have that but we want to balance that with being smart and disciplined.”

Bradley's ascent to a key role with the national team has come under the watchful eye of his father, U.S. coach Bob Bradley, and while their relationship is a natural as a World Cup storyline, both men avoid the subject of being father-son/coach-player whenever possible.

One thing that there is little debate about is the fact that Bradley and his father have similar personalities. They are both intense and driven and tireless in their pursuit of perfection.

“They’re fairly similar,” said Donovan. “I think we all, as we get older, realize, for better or worse, we’re a lot more like our parents than we ever want to be.

“They see the game the same way, and certainly their intensity and how much they care, and their passion is very evident and I think it rubs off on all of us.”

“He’s a much better player than I was, so on that end, never,” Bob Bradley said when asked if he ever seems glimpses of himself in Michael.

“With any of you that are parents you can have children, boys, girls, and sometimes at very young ages you see things. (My wife and I) have little things where if something happens she’ll just go, “Your boy, your girl,” and sometimes she’s right.”

For Bob Bradley, that son that so often reminded him of himself as a child has now grown into a man poised to take part in his first world Cup. He may just be 22, but all signs point to Bradley being ready for the challenge.

Ives Galarcep is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com who will be covering U.S. Soccer and MLS.