The Friday 4-4-2: Dempsey Strikes Again

It's Friday, so let's take a look back at the week that was...

What We Liked

1) Dempsey scores another: After netting his first goal of the season two weeks ago against Manchester City, Dempsey doubled his total by putting one in against Liverpool to seal the victory for Fulham. While his first goal was more impressive, Dempsey did play a nice little 1-2 to set up this goal, and he finished calmly inside the box. Dempsey has been a streaky player at times, and it looks he may be in the midst of one of those torrid runs of form. We expect Clint to bag another goal this weekend against Wigan. If this goalscoring run continues, expect the contingent of USMNT fans pushing for Dempsey to be moved to striker to get even louder.

2) Chad Marshall: Even though the Crew were eliminated from the playoffs last night, it was a good week for Marshall. The centerback was named MLS Defender of the Year for the second consecutive season and returned to the Crew lineup after missing time due to a knee sprain. Marshall played 90 minutes in each of the Crew's playoff matches and seemed completely back up to speed. There is a silver lining to the Crew's elimination for Marshall, also, in that he's now available for the upcoming USMNT friendlies, where he likely see playing time partnered with Carlos Bocanegra.

3) Castillo called up: Edgar Castillo confirmed in a postgame interview that he has been called into camp by Bob Bradley for the upcoming friendlies against Slovakia and Denmark. With the injuries to DeMerit and Onyewu and Carlos Bocanegra's move to the center, there isn't much behind Jonathan Bornstein at leftback. Castillo, who plays for Tigres in Mexico, is a talented player who also does well getting forward into the attack, and it will be interesting to see how he meshes with the USMNT. It's yet to be seen whether he will be effective at the international level, but we're glad to see that he's been given a chance to show his stuff.

4) TV: After a year that included the mun2 debacle and the Media World disaster, it's nice that the final two games of the year will be shown on two of our usual networks. Since these games are friendlies, the US had control of the broadcasting rights, unlike the aforementioned Mexico and Honduras games. Regardless, it's just going to be nice to watch a game on TV in English, as opposed to a choppy internet stream in a foreign language.


What We Didn't Like

1) US U-17s crash out: The U-17s capped off an underwhelming World Cup with a loss to Italy. They were outclassed by their opponents and should have done better with several golden opportunities to score (sorry, Jack McInerney). For a team that was supposed to show a lot of attacking flair and creativity, the U-17s really did not wow me on the offensive end.

2) Robbie Findley moves on: Yes, it's good that Findley scored two goals in Real Salt Lake's playoff series against Columbus, helping them upset the defending champs. But from a USMNT point of view, this is bad news, since it means that the speedy forward will likely not be available for the first friendly against Slovakia. There is the possibility that he could make it to the Denmark friendly if RSL do not advance, but it would have been nice to see him get some minutes in both games.

3) Jack Warner: I guess it's kind of amusing that the CONCACAF President lashed out at the English FA for the expensive handbags they gave to the wives of various football executives as part of their World Cup bid, considering Mr. Warner has a bit of a past when it comes to corruption and the sort. Whenever Warner pops up in the news, regardless of how "noble" his aims are, it just makes me frustrated that this guy has so much power in the world of international soccer. If you need a laugh at the expense of the FIFA VP, check out "his" Twitter page, @ConcacafJack.

4) The Yankees win the World Series: We're Phillies fans at US Soccer Daily. So obviously, this doesn't sit well with us.

What We're Looking Forward To

1) Bob Bradley's roster: Even though they're only friendlies, I'm still anticipating the roster announcement. Who's Bob Bradley going to bring in? Who's going to get snubbed? What kind of lineup can we expect? It's like Christmas Eve for the diehard National Team fans. With the World Cup seven months away, preparation and roster trimming needs to begin in earnest, so it will be interesting to see if which fringe players are still floating on Bob Bradley's radar.

2) Houston v. Seattle: The first leg was a very entertaining scoreless draw, and I expect the second leg will be a good one as well. Houston fans always turn out for the playoffs, so there should be a great atmosphere at Robertson Stadium. And let's not forget, this one does have some USMNT implications, since the Conference final would conflict with the first of the upcoming friendlies.