Not Really That Hard

As tragic and unfortunate as the car crash that injured Charlie Davies was, the implications for the U.S. Men's National Team aren't as complicated as this article would suggest. Then again, once you realize that the thrust of this guy's argument is "play Freddy Adu," you can pretty much dismiss him out of hand as a fanboy who has managed to weasel his way into the press box.

In fact, the emergence of Stuart Holden makes this whole situation really easy for coach Bob Bradley to solve. Clint Dempsey moves up to forward, and Holden slots in on the right side of the midfield. Done. For whatever reason, Dempsey struggles mightily on the right flank for the U.S. team, and tends to do his damage offensively when he gets pushed up higher. The emergence of Davies and Jozy Altidore, in a lot of ways, tied Bradley's hands when it came to getting Clint up top, but that's not the worst problem in the world to have.

And really, the injury to Oguchi Onyewu might end up as a blessing in disguise for the Nats as well, because every game he sat on the bench for AC Milan was doing damage to the U.S. backline next summer. If we learned anything from this summer's matches, it's that you've got to be playing regularly to be good enough for this squad. Just ask DaMarcus Beasley and the aforementioned Freddy Adu.

As for who slots into that position, I'm not sure yet. Obviously, Jay DeMerit is an option, pending the recovery from his eye injury, but the guy I'd watch out for is Clarence Goodson. And you have no idea how hard it is for me to say that, after watching him look so terrible when he first started playing with Dallas in MLS.