Replacing Charlie Davies

With Charlie Davies sidelined for possibly a year, if he's even lucky enough to ever play again, the United States national team now has a huge hole to fill at the top of their formation with just eight short months until the start of World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Lets take a look at the players who are most likely to step in and try to fill in for their fallen friend.

The player who will be expected to pick up the production of Davies will be Jozy Altidore. Now I know that Altidore may be considered a starter already, but recently it appeared that Bradley had been rating Davies higher than Altidore and using Jozy as a substitute instead of a starter. It was highly unlikely that Altidore would not have been a starter next summer in South Africa but now Altidore must deal with the pressure of being the unquestioned number one striker on the United States national team. So, while Altidore may not be replacing Davies in the lineup, he is going to have to raise his level of play to fill the void.

The next player in line, and the player currently in line to move into the starting lineup, is World Cup qualifying hero Conor Casey. Casey has enjoyed a strong year for Colorado, made the Confederations Cup roster and recently scored two goals against Honduras to help the U.S.A. clinch a berth in the World Cup. He has also managed to move ahead of Brian Ching as the number one choice as a target forward in the national team pool. If the World Cup starts today then Casey is your starting forward but I get the feeling that there is someone else who will assume that role next June.

Kenny Cooper has gotten off to a good start since joining 1860 Munich in the Bundesliga 2 during the summer transfer window and has moved back into the good graces of Bob Bradley. Cooper has had limited chances with the national team but has always been a productive player on the club level (40 goals in 90 MLS games) and has a rare combination of size, speed and ball skills. With Davies being out of the lineup, Cooper suddenly has a great opportunity to make a case to be a starter with the national team and this season in Germany can make or break Coopers chances. I think Cooper will make the team but will not be the starter at the World Cup.

Aside from the players listed above, Brian Ching and Eddie Johnson also have a chance to move into the World Cup squad and possibly earn a starting spot. But neither of them play significant minutes in South Africa and here's why. The player who is most likely to move into the starting lineup because of Davies injuries is Stuart Holden and the player who will take over the second starting forward spot will be Fulham FC star Clint Dempsey. Dempsey has proven to be a very resourceful and dangerous striker and will once again be looked to to provide a scoring punch alongside Jozy Altidore. Holden has proven to be a capable wing midfielder and is the most dangerous crosser in the national team program at the moment which will help make Dempsey and Altidore a very potent strike partnership.

Things could change in the next eight months and I'm going strictly off of speculation but this is how I see it playing out. If Dempsey doesn't get moved up top then I think we would've seen Cooper play himself onto the field with a big season in Europe. Either way, the U.S. will have a dangerous forward tandem on the field next summer. It's just too bad that we won't get a chance to see Davies and Altidore running wild next summer. Get better Charlie.