Who’s Impressed In MLS?

May 1st, 2006 | by: Daryl | View Comments

Arena said he’d be watching MLS before naming his roster, so there’ve been five games for someone to catch his eye.

Donovan hasn’t performed (until this weekend when he took apart Real Salt Lake) and Pope has been patchy (especially this weekend when he was taken apart by Donovan) but their spots on the roster aren’t really in doubt. For those players less certain of their summer plans, who’s helped and who’s harmed their chances?

This list is by no means exhaustive, and obviously I haven’t seen every minute of every MLS game (I like it, but not that much) so feel free to correct or add to the list via comments.

Eddie Johnson – has just one goal in 5 MLS games for Kansas, though the Wizards top the Eastern conference

Josh Wolff – ditto

Jimmy Conrad – has probably contributed more to KC’s success than the above two – and scored just as many goals despite playing at the back

Kenny Cooper - the big fella looked unstoppable in the opening few games – scoring 3 times, but failed to impress in front of Bruce during Dallas’ 1-1 draw at DC.

Brian Ching – 6 goals in 5 games, though 5 of these were against Colorado and 4 of them were in the same game. Definitely looks better in a Dynamos shirt than a US shirt. As one clever soul on BigSoccer said “Brian Ching should go- provided that every team we face is named ‘Colorado’.”

Freddy Adu – has looked really impressive for DC, often playing on the right side of midfield (a thin area for the MNT). Has looked more mature and positionally aware, and has layed on a lot of goals for his DC team-mates without finding the net himself. Could Bruce change his mind? The answer is of course, no, but maybe he could make the alternates list???

Justin Mapp – has been dribbling the length of the field for Chicago, but like Adu he probably doesn’t fit into Arena’s gameplan.

Ben Olsen – solid, solid, solid, nice goal against Dallas (and friends with Bruce).

Kerry Zavagnin – probably overshadowed by Olsen.

Todd Dunivant – too little too late.

Chris Albright/Frankie Hejduk – they’re both on the bubble but Bruce won’t have learned anything about these guys he didn’t already know.

Chris Rolfe – has looked lively – scoring 3 in 4 – could be named as an alternate striker.

Taylor Twellman – just like Johnson and Wolff, only has one goal so far. In his defence he relies heavily on service, which he hasn’t been getting in New England because…

Pat Noonan – battling injuries.

Steve Ralston – battling injuries.

Chris Klein – has a goal and an assist to his name but has struggled to light up a damp looking Real Salt Lake team.

With his no doubt extensive planning and preparation, Arena isn’t necessarily going to gamble on a player based on a few good weeks in MLS, but which of these guys will feel they’ve done enough to stand a chance?