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...