re: United States of F#ck Yeah v. Zusi's Dirty Bitches | Wed., 10 p.m. CDT

thenry's exceptional thoughts:

- Credit the Meheecans for bringing on a few subs early. Second-halves of friendlies are always huge clusterfricks for any type of analysis.

-Yedlin is still a skittish defender for Seattle, but the "upside" is tremendous. He has more speed than perhaps anyone in our pool, which is useful in the international game. People forget about Bornstein's serviceable play for two games at the World Cup, because he is useless in all other facets. Part of his decent performances was the simple fact that if he got beat one-on-one, he had the recovery speed to catch up to an attacker. Yedlin has infinitely more speed than Bornstein, but has some form of fine motor skills.

-Edu acquitted himself nicely. He made some key tackles and recycled the ball well enough. He's on the outside looking in for the World Cup, but played well last night. He might get himself a look on the 30-man preliminary roster

-Wondolowski might have just earned himself a ticket to Brazil, and not just because he scored with an excellently timed finish. We shouldn't forget that he earned the corner that Bradley later converted. He gets labeled as a "poacher" by many who don't watch San José or MLS that frequently. If you watch a Quakes game, Wondo often serves as a false-9 or even a right winger when both or one of Steven Lenhart and/or Alan Gordon are on the pitch. He links up play well in a team that doesn't value possession, and can find those Goonies with a well placed early cross. He and players like will always be useful for the national team.

-GAM: Obviously, he scored. Less obviously, he is the one player needing to explode in form for DC before the World Cup. If not, he's going to get left off the final roster. Jozy, Clint, Aron Johansson and Wondolowski all do things that GAM can do but better. It's unfortunate, because his turnaround story is remarkable, but he never really improved his overall game. He just finally found his niche with Seattle.

-Beckerman: Did the things he normally does well, well enough last night. When Mexico made halftime adjustments, his lack of pace showed as he wasn't racking up the tackles, short passes and fouls like he did in the first half with Mexico overcrowding the midfield.

-Bradley: Phenomenal first half, and serviceable in the second.

-Omar Gonzales is a good-to-great defender when the "bus is parked." His is clueless in open games like the one last night. Either we replace him with a serviceable Clarence Goodson or Geoff Cameron (who has ample experience as centerback TN Bhoy), or Klinsmann changes our entire setup to hide Omar's weaknesses. All I want for Gonzales is one good World Cup game where I can make plenty of unsolicited references to The Wire.

Obviously the 4-4-2 diamond is dangerous against teams with creative #10's if Beckerman gets isolated on a counter. if we go back to a 4-2-3-1 with Bradley as the #10, we could see more of the same. This all depends on Jermaine Jones' ability to not serve as our tactical pariah play in the hole.