Weekend Soccer Thought on Edu and Holden

Today was another slow news day on the U.S. soccer front but here's what I'm thinking about on this quiet Halloween weekend.

Maurice Edu is almost ready to return to full practice with Rangers of the Scottish Premier League and could be on the field within a few weeks time. This is good news for both Rangers and the United States national team as Edu was playing a role with both prior to his injury. On the national team side of things, Edu will have every chance to battle Ricardo Clark for the central midfield spot alongside Michael Bradley. Of course with Jermaine Jones' addition to the squad looming on the horizon there is no guarantee that Edu will be a starter come next summer if he is able to overtake Clark, as I expect him to. For now, I'm just glad to see Edu getting back to full health after an extended recovery period that took almost double the expected three months.

After watching the Seattle vs. Houston MLS playoff match on DVR tonight I came to the conclusion that Stuart Holden needs to be on the field for the Americans during the World Cup next summer. Holden actually had a pretty unimpressive performance during the run of play but he proved that he can do one thing better than any other current player on the national team, serve a good corner kick consistently. It's no secret that the U.S.A. has often struggled to score goals from the run of play against good competition and they have often been able to get by on set piece goals and corner kicks. Whats most impressive about that is that they have not had a player who can consistently deliver good crosses, until now. Holden hit about 5 or 6 corner kicks with good curve and pace into dangerous areas inside the box. This could be a valuable weapon in South Africa next summer and is another reason why Stuart Holden needs to be on the field when the tournament starts.