A few quick leftovers from Tuesday night’s win in Seattle:
- The players are having their “regeneration” day in Seattle; the plane pulls out tomorrow, bound for Salt Lake City. (SLC, by the way, is 4,200 feet above sea level, so five days of acclimation could be helpful.)
- U.S. Soccer says crowd of 40,847 at CenturyLink was the seventh largest for U.S. World Cup qualifier at home.
- Seeing as DaMarcus Beasley (pictured) picked up his second yellow card and will miss next week’s match against Honduras, my early guess would be Fabian Johnson sliding back into his old left back spot. Then again, Edgar Castillo is there, and Jurgen Klinsmann’s personnel adjustments Tuesday indicate a regard to keep as many men in their same positions as possible. Clearly, we have a few days to sort that one out.
- The updated list of U.S. men on yellow card warning now: Jozy Altidore, Matt Besler, Michael Bradley, Geoff Cameron, Brad Davis, Clint Dempsey, Brad Evans, Tim Howard and Fabian Johnson. I know ESPN’s Taylor Twellman talked about the short leash in World Cup qualifiers, where two yellow cards result in a one-game suspension. He called it ridiculous. But the way I see it … Don’t get yellow cards! Behave! There should be a price for professional fouls, for instance. This is big boy soccer.
- Besides, it tests these teams’ depth. This way, qualifying for the World Cup becomes a little more about a nation’s best 18-20 players, not about the best 14 or 15.
- Stuart Holden appearance was his first in a qualifier since facing Costa Rica back on Oct. 14, 2009. Who doesn’t continue to be excited about this guy getting his international groove back?
- The United States is now unbeaten in 24 consecutive home contests in World Cup qualifying.
(MORE: Which U.S. men have already locked up World Cup roster spots?)
