I think the potential roster players, numbering 20 are: Friedel/Meola/Sanneh/Cherundolo/Pope/Gibbs/Bocanegra/Convey/Armas/ Mastroeni/Beasley/Lewis/Donovan/Ralston or Klein/Reyna/Zavagnin/Wolff/Mathis/McBride/Ching I don't think that Arena will get refusals from clubs to release their yanks for the qualifiers. Does it make a difference to Arena whether these guys are in-form or not? Obviously, some yanks abroad will have been in preseason (not Sanneh?) and into the new season when they are called up 1 week prior to the Jamaica match. In fact 8 of the 20 are yanks abroad and in some way out of form. That will be true of the Jamaica players also (except MLS Jamaicans or home-based players). And would an out of form player be more likely to sit on the bench? I think so. Witness Mathis, Lewis, even Dolo (in the friendly). Then again Reyna (unless injured) does always start. McBride could sit. Given that both Keller and Howard seem to be fighting for their club jobs, it is reasonable to assume that Friedel (not likely to lose his spot at Blackburn) is GK. Walker has been letting in goals lately. Meola is having a great season. Klein, Ralston (witness his free-kick goal recently), and Ching are performing well in mid-season. Early injuries prior to call-up will affect the list above of course
The Bruce's roster should not be that important. Although we will not have our strongest lineup I feel we will be able to pass this round of qualifying quite easily. I hope we do because I would like to see some younger guys get experience in the later matches of this stage. (i.e. Gaven, Dempsey, and all others on the Bruce's radar. Let me be definitive though Adu will not be called up this season.