Le Sac Postal (That Means "Mailbag")

Hi boys and girls, Brian here. I'm just back from French lessons and très excité about diving into the old mailbag. Speaking of French, check out the picture here of the France team from their recent friendly against Mexico. The team sure looks really...umm...French!

Bryce and I send our apologies for the lack of updates in recent days. We were both traveling to see friends make that fateful mistake...errr...decision to walk down the ailse with the ladies they love. But we're back and will have a lot to talk about this week. Plus, Bryce leaves for Berlin on Saturday to set up shop at our very own Bookable Offense World Cup headquarters. Exciting times, friends. Let's get to the mailbag - as always, these are actual letters from actual readers. Enjoy.

Donnie in parts unknown: Why is Bruce Arena so in love with Brian McAwful? He is terrible and the USA has so many other options. If he starts McAwful I hope USA plays three and goes home. I am fully disgusted with some of Arena's decisions.

Brian: Hi Donnie. Some harsh criticism for our pal Brian McBride, wouldn't you say? I think I can see where you are coming from. McBride is limited in what he can do. He isn't all that great on the ball, isn't a great passer, and isn't a great scorer with his feet. Like a lot of strikers, he can disappear from matches at times. But with that said, I think Arena must start him. While you say Arena has options, I don't think the US really has that much depth up front. McBride is a steady veteran and was very good at the 2002 World Cup. For all his faults, he's deadly in the air and the US scores a lot of goals off of set pieces and crosses. He's also smart and a big game player who has a lot of fight in him. On Sunday against Latvia in a friendly, how did he respond to picking up a welt on his forehead the size of a golf ball? He got back out there and scored the winning goal. And while he's no Ruud van Nistelrooy, McBride has been relatively productive. He scored 10 goals for Fulham this season and was voted the team's player of the season by the Fulham supporters club. Besides, who would you want to go to war with? Someone who will play hurt and give every ounce of energy in his body like McBride, or someone who runs home to mommy when the chips are down like our buddy Landycakes? Until he lets me down or someone else clearly surpasses him, I'll stick with McBride.

Matthew in San Jose, CA: I wanted to understand your position on African players in European leagues. Are you an equal-opportunity supporter?

Brian: The best football in the world is played in Europe. If a player is good enough, that's where he should be playing, regardless if he's from England or Nigeria or Japan or Brazil. With that said, I am in favor of quotas stipulating that teams have a minimum amount of home-grown players. I think it's important for teams to develop their youth programs and develop home-grown talent. In England, for example, the influx of foreign players has hurt the development of young English talent and impacted the quality and depth of the national team, in my opinion. Having the home-grown quota would help solve that problem. Thanks for writing, Matthew.

Pete in Dayton, OH: Hey guys, love the website. My question is about the Group E opener on the 12th. Will the recent injuries in the Czech squad be enough for the US to take advantage of?

Brian: Hey Pete. Good question. I've been saying all along that the Czech Republic is not as good as they were at Euro 2004. At Euro 2004, everything was going right for the Czechs. The team was in perfect health and even Milan Baros was scoring. How often do we see that happen? This time around, things have changed. The injury list is long, including the likes of Smicer, Galasek, Rosicky, and Koller. Pavel Nedved is pretty fragile these days, and we saw him break down eventually at Euro 2004. The Czech Republic is beatable, and if the US is going to make the Round of 16, it really must take points off the Czechs in the opening game. But as depleted as the Czechs are, they still have Petr Cech in goal, who very well may have passed up Buffon this season as the best keeper in the world. I'm not ready to call this one, but stay tuned for Bryce's Group E preview and our prediction spectacular in the coming days.

JP in Ottawa, Ontario: While we have no national team to speak of, we're still excited about the World Cup up here in Canada. In your opinion, which group offers the most compelling two opening matches?

Brian: Greetings, JP. This World Cup actually has two candidates for the dreaded "Group of Death" - Group C (Argentina, Côte d'Ivoire, Netherlands, Serbia) and Group E (Czech Rep, Ghana, Italy, USA). Since I wrote the Group C preview (I'm sure you didn't miss that), I'll go with the first two matches from that group: Argentina vs. Côte d'Ivoire and Serbia vs. Netherlands. Côte d'Ivoire is a complete wild card and no one knows what to expect out of them. And the Serbian defense was scary-good in qualifying. The favored Argentinians and Dutch very well could drop points in those matches. If either does, the group will be wide open.

Tony in White Plains, NY: Why is the MLS playing during the World Cup?

Brian: Because it's a league run by idiots who know nothing about football, that's why. How can this league be taken seriously by anyone? Club football is supposed to be played from August to May, people. Besides, it's not like these games will matter that much. Since MLS wants to be an American sport more than it wants to play real football, 75% of the league's teams will make the ridiculous playoff tournament anyways, and by then everyone will have been home from Germany for quite some time. So these regular season games mean a whole lot of nothing since only the months of October and November really count. Can this league get anything right? We gave up on MLS the day they ran the Earthquakes - a team with a loyal fanbase in a soccer-loving community and had won two of the previous five championships - out of San Jose. I suggest you stop caring as well, Tony.

Carlos in Manhattan, KS: Which US players impressed you guys most during the three friendlies. Will anyone sneak into the starting 11?

Brian: Hi Carlos. Lots of questions today about the US team! Bobby Convey stood out to me. The guy is a stud. He'll take anyone on and is a great crosser of the ball. I can't wait to see him play Premiership football next season. Dare I say, he's better than Beasley right now. But with that said, Beasley still has to start since I can't bench a skillful winger with blistering speed. Dempsey is another good option on the wing. He doesn't seem to have a bad game for the US when given a chance. You also have to like how Brian Ching performed against Venezuela. But if everyone is healthy, I can't see Arena starting anyone but Beasley, Donovan, Reyna, and O'Brien in midfield. That's still the best combination of skill and experience. But given Reyna and O'Brien's injury and fitness issues, guys like Convey, Dempsey, and Pablo Mastroeni will see plenty of action.

Photos courtesy yahoo.com and fifaworldcup.yahoo.com. Don't be shy - get in on the mailbag fun. Send us un courrier électronique at bookableoffense@gmail.com. Don't forget to tell us where you're writing from. The best letter next week will receive a German postcard from Bryce.