Dunivant vs Pearce in Battle For Left Back

Bruce Arena has revealed that Todd Dunivant is beating Heath Pearce in the battle for left back, but only just.

When asked to compare the two players performances so far Arena said

I think [Dunivant] is a little bit ahead of [Pearce] right now,” Arena added. “Todd is a little bit more comfortable on the ball. Defensively they’ve both been pretty solid, so I’ve been pretty pleased with them. But they’re two pretty inexperienced players at that position, and we’ve got to continue to observe them and wait a little bit before we can make any kind of decision on where they stand.”

This says to me that Arena still plans to use a mixture of Carlos Bocanegra and Eddie Lewis at the World Cup. Even though Bocanegra is more suited to central defense and Lewis to left mid, their international experience will probably win Bruce over, with Bocanegra playing there when defending is required and Lewis when we need to go for it.

Still, if Dunivant does come out ahead of Pearce he will stand a chance of being on the plane this summer.