U.S. boss Bob Bradley has big choices ahead of World Cup qualifier

The U.S. manager has a little decision to make regarding the big qualifier coming up on Sept. 5 in Utah. Oguchi Onyewu is suspended thanks to his silly handball against Mexico, which put him over the yellow card limit. So there goes one of Bradley's first-choice center backs.

Jay DeMerit is playing regularly for Watford (although he did sit out the mid-week match against Leeds) so he seems the obvious choice to partner with Carlos Bocanegra in the middle. Of course, that leaves a little hole at left back, since that's where Bocanegra has played recently. If you getting a feeling that you've read that somewhere before, well you have. Left back has been a trouble spot for the Americans since roughly the Nixon administration.

So the choices at left back include: Jonathan Bornstein, who is currently a bit of a duck out of water playing center back for Chivas USA; Jonathan Spector, who isn't a natural left back but went a big 90 minutes there last week for West Ham, and; long-shot Heath Pearce.

There's also a chance Bradley taps Chad Marshall to partner with DeMerit in the middle. That’s not a terrible option considering how imposing the Columbus Crew center back has been in MLS and his rock-steady outings in the Gold Cup. In that case, Bocanegra would fill the bill on the left.

My guess: As El Salvador's attack won't inspire much fear, Bradley will lean slightly toward an attack-minded lineup. So he'll station Bocanegra and DeMerit in the middle of the back line while preferring fullbacks who are comfortable getting forward.

Paging Mr. Bornstein.

(That same reasoning probably also means that Steve Cherundolo, a better server than Spector on the right, will get the call on the other side of the field.)

Bradley also has a choice to make with his strikers, although this one isn't about filling gaps. In this case he's got to pick the best of several good options. Charlie Davies has been scoring lately for Sochaux in France, so he's a juicy option. What can you say about Jozy Altidore? It's his world right now, and the rest of us are just living in it. Two games at Hull and the 19-year-old striker has two goals. Cheers, young man.

Kenny Cooper has scored twice for TSV 1860 Munich, including a sweet strike of his own making Monday. Conor Casey is still scoring for Colorado, and he had a nice match last month in the MLS All-Star game in the very same stadium where the U.S. meets El Salvador next week. And there's always Brian Ching. While neither Ching nor Casey is likely to stir much excitement among U.S. fans, either can provide something the U.S. needs, good pressure on opposition defenders and the useful hold up play that allows Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan to get into dangerous spots from their flank midfield positions.

So, this weekend's matches could say a lot about who gets the call next week. Hull and Altidore are away to Wolves. Davies and Sochaux will host AS Monaco in French Ligue 1 play. Houston plays at Colorado, so Casey and Ching will face one another.

Cooper and the men of TSV 1860 München are away to Rot Weiss Ahlen in 2. Bundesliga action. In truth, however, the big fellow is probably a few more goals away from getting a call-up to such a critical qualifier. As Cooper is just now getting settled in Bavaria, and since he's a fringe selection anyway, Bradley may not want to disrupt the young striker's form and standing by pulling him out of Munich for a week.