Carlos Bocanegra Retiring at season's end

I suspect a lot of people will be sad. Boca's pretty much the prototype of old fashioned American footballer. Strong, athletic, tough, tenacious...all those adjectives that are used to stereotype players who are perceived as not having the "skill" bread by European academies. Of course he and many of his contemporaries had a lot more skill than they were given credit for, or else they wouldn't have thrived in the game as long as they did.

He definitely lost a step or two, but managed to hang in there and play a lot longer than I would have expected. I certainly can't speak directly to his leadership skills, but you don't end up wearing the armband for club and country unless you've earned it.

I posted on the corresponding FB thread how disappointed I am that he never got a proper sendoff for the USMNT. If you make it through two WC cycles, one of them wearing the armband, you deserve a curtain call. Seeing how quickly and unceremoniously he was dumped from the national team fold, I have to suspect that he may have been one of the unnamed players critical of JK in his early days running the show. Or JK simply wanted to set an example that no one's place was safe and used CB to prove the point. I'd say, regardless, it's unfair. I doubt it will happen, but I would love to see him out on that field alongside Landon in Connecticut.

 

I just can't see he being one of the guys going to the press (or at least I hope not), I think it was the latter reason you gave Tim. A model pro who never gave anything less than 100%. Have to respect a guy who was not overly talented, but worked at his craft and maximized every opportunity he was given.

 

Congrats to Charlie Black Mouth. I enjoyed watching him play for both the US and Fulham.

I guess it's a matter of perspective but I never considered Boca's USMNT run coming to an end as "unceremoniously dumped" until reading what you wrote. He was 33 or so and the performances just weren't there anymore. Moving in another, younger direction seemed like the logical thing to do at the time, especially considering he was going to be 35 by the time we got to Brazil. Perhaps the absence of a curtain call at that time was simply a timing issue. If I'm not mistaken, we were in the middle of WC qualifiers when the team decided to go in another direction.

From there, I don't know what's considered the proper timing. I'd assume you wait for the player to formally retire from International competition? With over 100 caps, I'd like to see some sort of acknowledgement done by the team. I'm more in favor of some sort of halftime acknowledgement where the player is presented with something to commemorate their service over a final token run out in a friendly.

 

A tribute to Boca

http://www.espnfc.us/team/united-st...gra-is-a-trailblazing-icon-of-american-soccer

 

Way to go, CB! We might have criticized but we always knew you were CLASSY!

 

Fog is right, he was class. And he deserves some type of testimonial at a US match.

 

After starting his career in MLS, Bocanegra signed for Fulham in January of 2004, during the same window as fellow American Brian McBride. The pair sowed the seeds of the "Fulhamerica" era, helping the small London club to gain its Premier League footing while also fostering a vibrant fan base in their native United States.

In many ways, the flirtation with Fulham was the beginning of the English football fascination that is exploding across the country today. Many an American soccer fan, previously with ties only to the national team, set their alarms for Saturday morning wake-up calls to watch the Cottagers fight it out in England's top division. The club's success with Bocanegra and McBride paved the way for other Americans at the club, most notably Clint Dempsey.
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Notable for the fact that Yanks following Friedel to Liverpool resulted in oafish and parochial comments {AOL users, natch} from their fan forum bases, while following McBride to PNE, then Everton was a whole different experience, some of us managed to weather the better natured slagging storm on the Offal.

After all... resulted in the Formation of this site. Wonder who it was coined 'Fulhamerica' anyway. I was there but cant recall. Might'a been Mikey hisself. Believe it was done on the UNofficial Brit site, which name I can't recall either.