WC 23 pretty firm now

Barring inuries, I think Bruce just had his last couple roster spots sewn up for him. Johnathan Spector dislocated his arm yesterday and faces a lengthy period on the bench and a possible surgery. I think that does a couple things for Arena

Berhalter, Bocanegra: There was a chance that Spector could have robbed one of these guys of their spot. Spector can nominally play in the center of defense (though one expects that Bruce would never have considered placing him their for the Cup). So Berhalter in particular was vulnerable. With Spector out, I think it's fairly likely that we'll see both of these guys on the rosterr

Olsen: It was also possible that Arena would have decided to take 9 defenders and 7 midfielders this year. In '02 he felt like he "ran out" of defenders (through yellow cards and a general lack of confidence in certain people). However, let's not forget that Reyna, O'Brien and Mastroeni can provide cover in defense... I think he'll be wary of running out of MIDFIELDERS this time... particularly since Donovan might need to be a forward... Therefore, Olsen seems like the logical choice here

I think this also puts Albright on the bubble (up from Unlikely)... particularly if he can score a couple MLS goals here in the next couple weeks and move up from "looking" dangerous to actually "being" dangerous.

Here it is then (Barring injuries of course), Starters have a * next to their name

Goallies (3): Keller*, Hahnemann, Howard

Defenders (8): Cherundulo*, Hejduk, Pope*, Onyewu*, Gibbs, Lewis*, Bocanegra, Berhalter
Midfielders (8): Reyna*, Donovan*, Beasley*, Mastroeni*, Convey, Olsen, Dempsey, O'Brien
Forwards (4): McBride*, Johnson*, Wolff, Twellman

Final lineup thought for the day

Just food for thought in case anyone was interested...

I wonder if there's any consideration to this lineup

                  Keller

Reyna, Pope, Onyewu, O'Brien
               Mastroeni
Dempsey                 Beasley
                Donovan
          McBride, Johnson

That is a highly attack minded and very skilled lineup... Reyna and O'Brien have both played outside backs for their club teams and they would provide alot of creativity on the flanks...

Not likely, but something to think about...

Roster thoughts

I wanted to spend a minute to go over the likely roster and the bubble players:

Goalkeepers:

Definites
Keller, Howard

Probables:
Hahneman

Unlikely:
Meola

Thoughts: The Jamaica game was largely symbolic for Tony Meola. I would prefer that he goes to the WC instead of Hahneman but Bruce Arena rarely asks for my thoughts these days. Either way, the 3rd goalkeeper slot is not a very important slot in terms of playing time.

Defenders:

Definites: Cherundulo, Onyewu, Lewis
Probables: Gibbs, Hejduk, Pope
Bubbles: Berhalter, Bocanegra, Spector
Unlikely: Pearce, Albright, Conner

Thoughts: Bruce is only going to take 8 (possibly 9 but unlikely since we're not Italy) defenders. I think that the first choice pairing in the center is Onyewu and Pope. One of Berhalter or Bocanegra will probably grab the other spot with Gibbs able to cover there as well. Cherundulo and Lewis are the automatic first choices on the outsides and Hejduk's ability to play left and right will likely land him a spot. Bobby Convey, John O'Brien and Claudio Reyna (all nominally midfielders) also provide some cover on the flanks and Pablo Mastroeni can (apparently) do passably well in the center of defense.

Midfielders:

Definites: Donovan, Mastroeni, Beasley
Probables: Convey, Reyna, O'Brien, Dempsey
Bubbles: Olsen, Zavagnin, Noonan
Unlikely: Klein, Ralston, Gavin

Thoughts: Alot is going to depend on Reyna's health and whether or not Bruce thinks that O'Brien is a potential starter. Additionally, I would expect that Donovan is nominally considered the 5th forward so if there's an injury to Eddie Johnson or Josh Wolff, I would think that they would be replaced by a midfielder rather than a forward. A healthy team means that Olsen is likely superfulous. Health questions anywhere on the field mean that one or possibly two of the bubble players come in.

Forwards:

Definites: McBride
Probables: Wolff, Twellman, Johnson
Bubbles: Ching
Unlikely: Rooney

Thoughts: We're really quite thin at forward. McBride and Johnson is likely the first choice but injuries to any of those players could quickly force Donovan and/or Noonan to be deputized into action. I view Ching as the potential replacement only for McBride and Twellman. Donovan is much more likely to fill in for the other two. The other big question is whether or not Arena feels sufficiently confident with the McBride/Johnson tandem or if he'll decide that Donovan is a better bet to pair with McBride. I think that a completley healthy team or a couple key injuries at forward could see Donovan partner with McBride. Any other scenario, likely sees Landon playing in the midfield.

Jamaica game and final US roster

Last night's game didn't shed a whole lot of light on things. In fact, it might have muddled some of Bruce Arena's decision making. Items of note from last night's game.

1) Hejduk may not be as much of a lock as we thought. He was beat on the early goal we gave up (although I'm still wondering where Pope and Mastroeni were). He then did a flying, two footed, cleats up tackle (which he's had a habit of doing in the past) that would have likely gotten a red (or at least a yellow) card in a world cup game.

2) Mastroeni is probably better as a central defender then a defensive midfielder. I don't particularly like Pablo Mastroeni. I think he's too thuggish and doesn't have much skill in terms of distribution or attacking verve. However, he made some good tackles and interceptions and his passes out of the back were much better last night (I believe owing to a lack of pressure from Jamaica).

3) Ben Olsen is looking better and better. Last night he did a credible job as a holding midfielder. Got forward to help in the offense without leaving the back exposed (although he, perhaps, should have been in the passing lane that was exploited for the Jamaica goal). He scored what some may consider a lucky goal but I think if you watch the replay you'll see that we'd have likely gotten the rebound anyways so he would have instead ended up with an assist. The fact that he can play in the right midfield slot is a big bonus.

4) Ralston is just not ready for prime time. Arena is almost certainly going to gamble on O'Brien. He's not going to gamble on two midfielders that could leave us dangerously thin at that position if they were to suffer injuries. Ralston's crossing abilities are the only thing keeping him in the squad.

5) Donovan's set pieces looked good. Particularly his corner kicks from the left side. If Onyewu and McBride had been playing I think we would have scored at least two additional goals from corner kicks.

6) Dempsey has alot of potential. It's too bad that our best players are all central midfielders (Donovan, Dempsey, Reyna, O'Brien). I believe Dempsey did credibly last night at right midfield, probably sewing up that roster spot. However, he's clearly not a natural there and when he's in, we're reliant on either the forward in front of him or the defender behind him to provide width (In fact, last night, he repeatedly played those players wide, rather than go wide himself).

My preferred, everyone healthy, lineup is thus, right now:

                        Keller
Cherundulo, Pope, Onyewu, O'Brien
                        Reyna
Olsen                                    Beasley
                        Dempsey
                   McBride, Donovan


However, I think we're much more likely to see
Keller
Cherundulo, Pope, Onyewu, Lewis
Donovan, Reyna, O'Brien, Beasley
McBride, Johnson

and I'm okay with that lineup as well...