Alejandro Bedoya : Changing the tide
Alejandro Bedoya is emotional and intense, and it’s boosting the Philadelphia Union.
Alejandro Bedoya has always been a fiery character. The American National teamer has been known throughout his career for his work rate and his effort which makes many see his on field play as sometimes ancillary to the success of the teams he has been on. But over the past 7 years he has earned almost 60 international caps, and been a key part of multiple team’s success from Sweden, to Ireland, to France and now Philadelphia.
From his early days with the national team Alejandro Bedoya was a workhorse winger. That earned him many a cap under Jürgen Klinsmann and now under Bruce Arena. He was also a big part of the World Cup qualifying effort and was a starter through much of the 2014 World cup. This was around the time that many fans noticed Bedoya’s worth for the national team. He is not flashy; he gets the job done.
He often played in a forward wing position, but ultimately it has often been his defensive work rate that has earned him most of his praise.
More from Philadelphia Union
- VIDEO: Even Philly Fans Can’t Hate Messi’s First Goal vs Philadelphia Union
- DraftKings Pennsylvania Promo Will Give You $200 Bonus GUARANTEED for Betting Just $5
- Philadelphia Union 2021 MLS season preview
- Don’t laugh, but the Union might be Philadelphia’s next champions
- Philadelphia Union: Previewing upcoming matchup vs Atlanta United
It was no secret in 2015 that Philadelphia was trying to get him to move from Nantes, but it took a while for the deal to finally move to his home country. Bedoya signifies much of what Philadelphia sports fans expect from their players.
He works hard, he fights hard, and he does everything necessary to win. He pushes the team forward, and although for much of his first 9 months in the league the results did not go his team’s way. Finally, that came to a head after a game in which the Union had took a 3-0 lead, only to squander it and leave a match at home with only a single point.
After the game Bedoya had some strong words to say about his team and their effort. It was not good enough and they all knew it. There is something to be said about a team that has not won in a while continually not winning because they know they will not win. That may have had a lot to do with the Montreal loss. It would not be the first-time Bedoya talked in a way that perhaps teams would not appreciate including tirades against reporters, and various twitter battles over his career.
The transcript from that post game can best be summed up with this single paragraph:
"“When I came to this club, we were all ambitious. It’s not the start that we wanted. I wear my emotions on my sleeve, and I thought I worked my butt off, and so did all the guys, and to give up three soft goals – what I think were soft goals – it sums up, kind of, the start of the season. It sucks. Disappointing, frustrating. But tomorrow is a new day, and we’ve got to keep working hard”."
The words read out that this is not the result they wanted, and they should have done better. The most important thing from that is the fact that they need to come out the next game and do better defensively and push to play better.
He continues about needing more defensive effort and working better together as a team. Losing will happen, but you need to put in better work if you want to win games and win trophies. You cannot do that if you are letting in two goals a game, you cannot expect to score three goals a game.
This moment is a turning point in the Union season. They had Montreal on the ropes and let them back into the game. From the high of three first half goals, to the low of only getting a single point out of a mostly great performance. Bedoya calling himself and his team out has pushed the success of the team forward. The play has been better.
Calling out the team improved the defensive play, and with tactical changes such as inserting Ray Gaddis or being forced to move around the center backs due to different injuries has had a drastic effect. Like Bedoya said if you keep the other team from scoring you have a better chance of winning.
For four straight games the other team failed to win because they could not score and that got the team 10 points. In the most recent game the other team scored, but only scored once allowing the Union to once again score enough to get the full points from the game.
Next: Haris Medunjainin called to Bosnia Squad
Bedoya has been a strong work horse for the Union and while he may have been utilized in the wrong way for the early season his pushing of the team has worked to make them a team that is a force now in the league. 4 wins in 5 games, and 13 points in those games have revitalized the Union season, the Union fans, and even the platers themselves. Much of that can be attributed to Alejandro Bedoya and his efforts to alight a fire in the team.