Not that this will be a problem for Bob Bradley and his son Michael during this summer’s World Cup Finals in South Africa.  One exception to the rule seems to be the Bradley family, US Coach Bob Bradley and his son Michael, who will compete in the World Cup Finals together this summer in South Africa.

Michael Bradley was born in Princeton, New Jersey when Bob was the coach of the Princeton University soccer team. As a youngster, when Bob moved to Illinois to coach the Chicago Fire in the MLS, Michael was brought up in Palatine and at an early age, grew to love the game in the same way as his father.

After an impressive career in Junior leagues, Michael signed up with the MLS Superdraft in 2004 and was selected 36th overall by the New York Metrostars, who just so happened to be coached by his father. Michael’s first professional season didn’t turn out as planned when he suffered an awful foot injury, but his second year kicked off to a fantastic start for both of the Bradleys; Bob succeeded in leading his team to playoffs and Michael played in all but two of the games and headed his first goal to a shocked Chivas USA, securing a spot in the playoffs.

His energetic performances at the heart of midfield as an anchor for Metrostars had caught the eye in foreign climes and in January 2006, New York Metrostars allowed Bradley to leave the club when he was sold to SC Heerenveen of Holland.   Bradley’s success continued with Holland as he played well enough to land the team a place in the UEFA Cup and achieving an incredible 20 goals in the 2007-2008 season.

After Bradley’s success with Holland, bigger clubs started paying attention, including Birmingham City, whose relegation from the Premier League preventing them from getting him in their soccer gear. Instead , Borussia Moenchengladbach picked up midfielder Bradley, who has proven to be an asset, playing 58 games in the Bundesliga and racking up seven goals.

On the back of such impressive performances, Bradley’s promotion to the National Team ranks was assured. Bob Bradley began coaching the team in 2006, leading Michael to become  the core of the US midfield, setting up plays so that offensive players such as Landon Donovan can exercise the freedom to get towards the goal.

The US team is thankful for the father and son duo as they head on to the World Cup Finals in South Africa this summer.

A number of people are superstitious about the reasons for the injury, chalking it up to bad luck. Some may point to Ferdinand’s injury hit season being proof that something like this was almost inevitable for the United star, others have been quick to state that it is the old “injury jinx” striking again just before a major finals event.

Personally, I would like to think that the reason for a rapid loss of players in England’s soccer uniform when it comes time to compete is more related to the intensity of the numerous games that England and other players in the Premier League face.

Playing for a top side also means taking part in four competitions a season.    Among these are The Premier League, The FA Cup, The Champions League or Europa Cup, The Carling Cup and The FA Cup.   This list doesn’t include any of the pre- and post-season games that occur in a season, or the number of pre-season friendlies in which a team can participate.

In addition to the number of games England plays, the speed and intensity of an average match is high. Whereas on the continent the game is often played in a more stop/start fashion, in England it is often full blood from the first whistle and played at a speed and pace which makes injuries inevitable.  A number of top players are known to engage in between forty and fifty difficult games in a single season, plus training.

Players suffer under the weight of constant physical stress. With so much time spent playing, it should be more surprising when a player doesn’t get injured.

Consider England’s present line-up. Rio Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora, Owen Hargreaves, and Michael Owen all suffered injuries this year, leaving the squad, which originally had 30 men insanely short staffed. Theo Walcott was omitted, by Capello, due to the fact Capello feels he hasn’t been the same player since he injured a shoulder against Stoke in 2008.

The players on the team that are fit, didn’t get that way easily Ledley King needs specialist training to keep his knees in prime condition. Other recovering athletes with injuries this season include Steven Gerard, and Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Aaron Lennon, Glen Johnson, Wayne Rooney and David James. People like Gareth Barry will be missing the first game of the World Cup finals against the United States.  England’s most capped player, David Beckham sustained in Achilles injury several months ago, which ruled him out as a player in the World Cup finals.

It’s an odd quirk of fate that our love of the game in England, our thirst and desire for big games at a quicker pace, more often, is seemingly at odds with the ability to produce that which almost all England fans craves more than anything else: A second World Cup winning team.

So who is Fabio Capello going to be looking at to replace some of these key players in the next few years? Some likely replacements include…

Joe Hart    (Manchester City, Goalkeeper) – Hart has enjoyed a superb season on loan at Birmingham and he deservedly forced his way into the squad as third choice keeper for the finals. However with James now nearing 40 and Green not altogether impressive, Hart may well find himself elevated to senior keeper role sooner rather than later, especially if he can start to force his way into the first team at Manchester City, or another big Premier League club. Once Joe Hart secures this, England might not have to look for new number one for a while. 

Kieran Gibbs    (Arsenal, Defender) – Although Gibbs may have had a rough start to his career at Arsenal due to injury, his future looks bright.  A talented player who can play anywhere along the left flank, Gibbs will grow in confidence as he gains more experience.  He’ll push Clichy hard for a spot in the Arsenal team next season and should make the step up from England U21’s to the National team at some point in the future.

Jonjo Shelvey    (Liverpool, Midfielder) – Replacing Steven Gerrard for Liverpool and England is going to be a tough task but Shelvey, whom Liverpool recently signed from Charlton, is the man the Reds feel will eventually fulfil that role. Still only 17, Shelvey may take a couple of years to progress through the ranks at Anfield, but if he does and he can prove to be anywhere near as effective as Gerrard has been over the past few years, it won’t be long before England come calling too.

Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea, Attacker) – Daniel Sturridge, Chelsea’s current attacker, was not able to fully stretch his wings under Anelka and Drogba’s fierce partnership, looks an enormously promising.    Sturridge should become a consistent contributor for Chelsea next season and may well push hard to claim Anelka’s spot in Ancelotti’s side. Sturridge’s never-failing ability to make great goals could lead to an impressive role on Chelsea’s and England’s teams.

Connor Wickham (Ipswich Town, Attacker) – If you haven’t heard of Connor Wickham, don’t be alarmed. The enormous talent is being linked to a Premiership giant and is only 17 years old. A clinical striker who has improved a great deal since forcing his way into the first team at Portman Road just a few days after his 16th birthday.    Watch for Wickham to join a big team with an even bigger price tag.

While we will be very sad to see our soccer heroes go, we also can’t help but to be excited for the stars of tomorrow.

The world cup by itself is another reason why the anticipation about the 2010 summer are so high. Football and non football fans around the globe are all, to a greater or lesser degree anticipating the 1st ever world cup to be hosted by an African country. So, the combination of a really warm summer without much rain and lots of sport activity is enough to bring great excitement. After such a hard and intense winter all Europeans deserve a great summer, especially as recession doesn’t seem to get out of the way yet.

A typical summer scene would include lots of friends taking their places around the TV in the garden, being absorbed by the commentator’s voice that will be coming out of those. Kids will be running around playing with their summer toys, say a remote control helicopter, while the adults will be serving cold beer out of a beer dispenser. It’s also good to include people who don’t like sports so much so someone can be in charge of the barbecue.

Will the scientists be right in their forecasts this time or is it going to be another huge disappointment?. So lets hope everything will be as well as we expect it!

Whilst qualification for next summers tournament is not yet guaranteed, heading the group entering the last two rounds of matches and a trip to Honduras following a 2-1 win in Chicago may, if other results go their way, render the visit of Costa Rica in the final match immaterial. A 3-1 reverse in San Jose put a dent in the US’ hopes but the 4-0 thrashing handed out to their last opponents by their next opponents in August gave Bob Bradley’s boys renewed belief that securing their place for South Africa 2010 is in their own hands.

The list of countries already certain to compete has a mixed look to it, from the unsurprising to the eye-catching. Five-times winners Brazil who have never missed qualifying for a tournament have been joined by Paraguay from the South American qualification pot. Argentina a previous winner of the World Cup is yet to fire on all cylinders under Diego Maradonna and qualification is far from secure. The World Cup has never been won by a country outside of South America and Europe with the latter bound to produce contenders for next years title. So far, they include1966 winners England, reigning European Champions Spain, and the Netherlands who are former European Champions and widely considered to be the best side never to have won the World Cup.

2002 joint hosts Japan and South Korea have both qualified as have Australia. North Korea take to the world stage for the first time since 1966 when they beat Italy. Ghana became the first CAF side to qualify for the World Cup finals with South Africa gaining automatic qualification as the tournament hosts.  

The US national side currently sit 11th in FIFA’s coefficient ranking list which is below 3 of the above countries. Yet all bets are off once the World Cup begins as more often than not previous form is not a necessary factor for for tournament success.

The US team took place in the first 2 World Cup tournaments back in the 1930s and then in the 1950 tournament hosted by Brazil. However, without a successful professional domestic league, coupled with soccer being somewhat of a minority sport overshadowed by the giants of the NFL, NBA and NHL, participation in what the majority of the world considers the biggest sporting event next to the Olympic Games has been far from the central consciousness of the general population. It was all change in 1990 when the national side qualified for the tournament after being granted host status for the 1994 tournament on the condition the MLS was established. Three subsequent qualifications for the tournaments in France, Korea/Japan and Germany in 2006 have raised international expectations of US performance. USA went as far as the quarter final stage back in France ‘98 where they lose 1-0 to Germany amidst controversy.

The current crop of players to wear the Stars and Stripes have regular competition at home and abroad. Record breaking Landon Donovan may play in the MLS for LA Galaxy alongside David Beckham but many of his international team mates ply their trade abroad.

The US national side boasts players from plying their trade at club level in several different leagues including the Premier League, Bundesliga and Serie A. However, the list of US internationals on the rosters of foreign clubs continues to grow with representatives of the national squad also in Portugal, Denmark, Norway and Mexico to name but a further four.

With the tournament itself scheduled to take place during the South African winter, the players from North American but with European experience should find the climate to their liking. Other than blips in 1994 and the 2002 Japan/S. Korea tournament the trend in recent years seems to be for countries from the host continent to win the main tournament. The Brazil side have always been the anomaly to this trend after wins in 1994 and 2002 but the 2010 World Cup in South Africa raises the interesting question of who will be able to acclimatise best to the climate and enjoy success?

The women’s equivalent of the United States national team have experienced success in the Olympics and World Cup tournaments in recent history. As the MLS increases the popularity of the game known to the rest of the globe as ‘football’, the ability of the men to step up to the plate and produce their own piece of history will only grow as more and more players register opening up soccer as a game to those athletes who would previously have been lost to track and field, basketball, baseball, hockey, football….amongst others.

England’s proud national game has only produced one instance of World Champions in over a century of competition. Meanwhile an impoverished Brazil have picked up 5 separate triumphs and achieved a great reputation amongst neutral supporters worldwide. The combination of available population, facilities, ability to attract the best in the world to both play and train is present in very few nations – the US is one of those. And if it all comes to fruition one day, a new world order may just have started in soccer terms.