Bob Bradley's first year in charge of the US National Team was an eventful one, to say the least. From the Gold Cup success to the Copa America disappointment, the former Princeton man experienced the sudden highs and lows of being a national team boss.

Ultimately, the successes outweighed the disappointments, and the disappointments occurred as a result of Bradley challenging the team: something that we haven't seen in a long while.

While 2007 was a success for Mr. Bradley, there could be and should be improvements made in 2008. Here are a few things I'd like to see gaffer do in the current calendar year.

Find a Way to Field the Talent
It feels so good to type that. When was the last time this could be said of the US Men's National Team? I think never is about right.

In years past, there have been a handful of standouts who were mainstays in the squad, like Donovan, McBride and Reyna. These were the guys who the team was built around. Now, with the emergence of an abundance of attacking talent over the past year and a half, it's up to Bradley to build the squad.

In just the past six months, Freddy Adu, Maurice Edu and Jozy Altidore have gone from youth internationals to serious contenders for spots in the starting eleven of the senior squad. Add this trio to the likes of Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Benny Feilhaber, Bobby Convey and DaMarcus Beasley, and there is more than enough talent to make up a strong midfield and frontline.

Throw in, just to name a few, Ricardo Clark, Danny Szetela, Justin Mapp, Sal Zizzo, Charlie Davies and Eddie Johnson, and the stable of talent gets even bigger.

Due to injuries and cup conflicts, Bradley has not been faced with this problem fully. At the Gold Cup, injury kept out Convey, while Edu, Adu and Altidore were not yet in the national team picture. In the recent friendlies, Donovan stayed home to play with the Galaxy.

Come late August, though, Bradley will finally be forced to make some tough decisions over player selection. Qualifying begins and the US boss hopes to have a full selection of healthy players as the US sets off on its journey towards South Africa.

Change the Formation
This idea ties in with the previous topic. With all of the budding attacking talent, there is absolutely no need to play with two defensive midfielders and no advanced center mid. I can't name one successful team, club or national, which plays without some form of an attacking midfielder.

Sure, in the past there weren't any viable options to be the American #10, but that is not the case anymore. Freddy Adu, Clint Dempsey, Benny Feilhaber and Landon Donovan can play in this role. Bradley needs to show that his tactical awareness has advanced from his predecessors. The players are there for a more attacking style to be employed; now it's up to Bradley to do it.

What formation should they play, then? I have always been a fan of the Dutch 4-3-3 system. American players can have success with this formation as we saw in the Under-20 World Cup. Michael Bradley, Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore were all part of that squad and have experience within the formation.

If he continues to develop Altidore could be the perfect striker for this formation, while Adu has already shown what he can do when given the freedom as an attacking midfielder. Dempsey would be much better suited on the right wing instead of playing out of position as a target man. The other wing could be occupied by Donovan, Beasley, or Convey, while Bradley and either Feilhaber or Edu could play behind Adu.

For the most part, all of these guys can play multiple positions in the 4-3-3, not only the ones I have them pegged for. This flexibility will give Bradley more options and will allow the formation to be more fluid with players constantly interchanging.

Keep Winning in Europe
For me, the top Bradley achievement of 2007 was not winning the Gold Cup; it was guiding the US to victory in Europe. The US defeated a nearly full strength Switzerland on its home soil. If the US wants to achieve success in competitions not named the Gold Cup, the team will need to start regularly winning games on foreign soil. The match against Switzerland was a promising start.

nfortunately, you can't win a game if you don't play a game. As of now, the United States only has two friendlies scheduled: home against Sweden and home against Mexico. There will supposedly be a European friendly on March 26th, and Poland is rumored to be the opponent.

Poland wouldn't be the worst opposition, but I would like to see Bradley schedule another friendly in Europe before qualifying starts, hopefully against a tougher opponent. England didn't qualify for Euro 2008, so they should be available at some point.

Two games in Europe will be a good barometer for where the US stands in relation to the rest of the world. A game against Poland is one that the US should win, but it will still be a good test. If another match is scheduled, it will likely be the last match before qualifying begins. What better way to prepare for qualifying than a game against a big time opponent in Europe? Things would only get easier from there.

Make Short Work of Qualifying
It might be the Liverpool fan in me, but I would love to see the US destroy Barbados/Dominica, and then qualify from the group in the least amount of games as possible. Am I asking for too much here? I don't think so. Other than the trip to the Azteca, the United States should take full points from every match in qualifying, or at least up until they've clinched qualification.

By quickly qualifying from the group, Bradley will have a slew of options at his disposal. He will be able to try out new formations and combinations of players and see how they work out. More importantly, he'll be able to blood some younger players and prepare them for the latter stages of qualifying and, more importantly, the World Cup.

The new year may not be as busy 2007 for the National Team's head man, but it is just as important. Bradley faced challenges last year, but not many changes were needed in order for him to succeed.

Thankfully, he made a few changes by bringing in younger players and playing matches in Europe, but 2008 will call for even more adventure. Now faced with a plethora of players, Bradley will have to make some decisions, cut the pool back down and possibly trim the playing time of some established veterans. His first chance is on January 19th.