You Got a Lot of Splainin' to Do

Until US Men's National Team coach Bruce Arena releases his roster for the Mexico Game, we can't do much expect speculate who will play. However, with several key players returning from injury, including Pablo Mastroeni, DaMarcus Beasley, Carlos Bocanegra, and Eddie Johnson, we'll see a slightly different line-up than what we saw against Trinidad and Tobago. From the list of players known to be in camp, it would seem that Saturday's line-up might look as follows:

Goalkeeper: Kasey Keller
Defenders: Chris Albright, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Eddie Lewis
Midfielders: Steve Ralston, Claudio Reyna, Pablo Mastroeni, DaMarcus Beasley
Forwards: Landon Donovan, Brian McBride

That's a very weak right side, but barring a major philosophy shift, I don't see Arena starting Santino Quaranta out at right mid. Without Steve Cherundolo (and without a proper right midfielder), our offensive output (and defensive prowess) suffers mightily on the right.

Speaking of right midfielders though, Kansas City Wizards midfielder Chris Klein is aiming to get himself back into the National Team picture. While Klein never impressed me in his previous chances, his career has been set-back numerous times with injury, and he's a stand-up player enjoying a tremendous season (7 goals, 8 assists so far). At the very least, Klein's earned himself another call-up.

Dallas shows where it's priorities are: ticket sales. It seems more clear than ever that previous Dallas GM Greg Elliott was forced out to make room for a more business-savvy (but apparently still soccer-friendly) GM in John Alper.

For my money, Shalrie Joseph has been the MLS MVP so far this season, and barring a major catastrophe for the New England Revolution, he'll stay my choice for the rest of the year. Today, there was a great article on Joseph. Here are some quotes:

"I support the US team and my heart is with them."

"Some days I regret my decision, but my roots are in Grenada and I decided to play for them."

''You are not just winning balls but also distributing. Some guys can win balls but can't distribute and others can distribute but are not so good at winning balls. My strength is that I can win the ball, I can organize the midfield, and I can convert to attack."

Finally, Real Salt Lake has acquired Minnesota Thunder forward Melvin Tarley. The weird thing about this is that Tarley will be able to play for the Thunder in their semi-final Open Cup match (and the Open Cup final should Minnesota advance). Is a player that has been "acquired" allowed to return to his team to play? I know that it's not unprecedented for a loan player to sit against the team that loaned him (per the stipulations of the loan deal), but the language used here is "acquired" and yet Tarley will be able to play for the Thunder. Anyone well-versed in the FIFA laws of the game able to puzzle this out?