Tuesday Thoughts

No jokes, just a cool pic from U.S. Soccer's blog.

There’s been plenty said, and I haven’t even heard a peep from Alexi Lalas, about tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier for the U.S. in Costa Rica. So I’m not up for a full-blown preview. But I do know the game starts at 10 pm ET and I’m sure by then a few beers will have been opened to see if some spirits can lift me up during the game.

I’m not expecting a win. And, to be honest, a point would almost be one stolen, while also keeping two off the board for the Ticos.

But the lack of Mo Edu in this one is the biggest disappointment for me. As a Terp, it’s been even more fun watching the kid grow up over the past few years, even if he is playing for Rangers and not Celtic. I was looking forward to seeing him paired with Michael Bradley in the center of the park and find out just how much he’s grown in the past few months in the SPL. Now we’ll have to wait -- hopefully -- for the Confed Cup if his knee heals.

My other hope is that Jozy starts. Bob Bradley claims he’s fit for 90 minutes, though I wonder how much of that is gamesmanship. The only positive is without Altidore in the starting lineup we won’t see more of the DaMarcus Beasley experiment at left back. Actually, on second thought, if we’re going to lose the game anyway, why not put Beas back there and hopefully end that one. Is that cynical on my part? Sure. But he’s not the future at that spot and, apart from an embarrassing performance, I don’t know what will make Bradley realize it.

My prediction: 1-0 Costa Rica thanks to some big Tim Howard saves

Other thoughts:

- Going off a thought from Bruce over at du Nord, who mentioned Jozy, M.Bradley, Dempsey, Hejduk, and Gooch are all on yellows and facing a suspension, why is it just two in qualifying that merits a suspension? As we saw with Tim Howard, they even carry over from previous rounds. For yellows it needs to be bumped up to at least four, if not more should they continue to carry over from previous rounds. Should Bradley or Gooch pick one up tomorrow -- not that calls have ever gone against the U.S. in San Jose -- that makes the game on Saturday that much more difficult.

- Carlo Ancelotti has officially joined Chelsea. All things considered this is probably the best move the Blues could make, aside from keeping Guus. Certainly heats things up for the transfer window as the former Milan boss already said he wants Pato and Glen Johnson from Portsmouth. So then who heads the other way? Anelka seems the obvious choice even if he did win the Golden Boot. However, the looming suspension to Drogba will play a role too. Personally I’d be sending Michael Ballack packing from that congested midfield, but that’s just me.

- Conor Casey won PotW in MLS. He’s already had a cup of coffee with the national team, and probably gets a look during the Gold Cup if this current form keeps up, but I see him in the Taylor Twellman/Jason Kreis mold of scoring goals in MLS, but not transferring it to the national team level. His teammate, Colin Clark, should be an interesting look in that same tournament. Oh, and can Brad Davis finally have a legit look from the Nats?

- The Galaxy has 9 draws in 11 games. Wow. You turn their record around and it reads 9-1-1. Bruce Arena might want to dial that with Landon Donovan set to miss the next few weeks w/ national team duty.

On a related note, two reasons -- aside from the lack of consistently posting on Friday -- for not doing predictions: 1. I’d just be doing 1-1 for every game and probably be doing better than I was and 2. Dallas 3, Chicago 0. Just when you think you have a handle on this league, that happens.

Pat Walsh