Bease's Return

DaMarcus Beasley is back.

He looks a lot like the pre-2006 model. I asked Landon Donovan about Beasley and he said that Beasley looked as good as he has in a long time. Here's a feature on DaMarcus Beasley I wrote for the Press-Enterprise.

Because I had limited space, I couldn't get everything into the story. And in case you didn't listen to the interview I posted a week ago, here are a few things that didn't make the newspaper.

I asked DaMarcus about the influence Bob Bradley had on him and how he felt that benefited him now on the national team.

"Him and John Ellinger were the ones who pushed me to the national team when I was 17 when I got my first camp. He was very influential in that. He and Bruce Arena are very good friends and he kind of pushed Bruce to give me a chance to get into camp when I was still young. For him to do that and to have the backing of me that I can play that level at that age was very uplifting."

I also asked him about the comfort level he feels with Bob as coach.

"I played with Peter and I played with Mike Sorber back in Chicago. All three of them know me pretty well. I know them as well. It’s different now that they’re coaches. It’s a different respect but at the same time they all know me, they all understand me and for me personally it’s good that we all have that understanding of what I can do and what I can’t do and they know that."