31313_bedoyaalejandro_isi_usmnt012310411 John Todd/isiphotos.com
Rising and Falling

Hot or Not: Bedoya States His USMNT Case

The Helsingborg-by-the-way-of-Boston-College talent tears it up in Sweden. Could a call from Jurgen Klinsmann be coming soon? Elsewhere, Herculez Gomez stars and Charlie Davies flails.
BY Jon Arnold Posted
March 13, 2013
10:30 AM
Who’s Hot?
Herculez Gomez—The Santos forward has excelled since his strike partner, Oribe Peralta, came back from a broken nose that kept him out for a couple weeks. Gomez has scored three goals in the Warriors’ two most recent Liga MX matches with his most tally giving them the halftime lead in a 2-1 win over Atlante.

The national team could definitely use a Gomez goal or two and who better to score in the Azteca than the man already used to finding the net in the country? That’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Gomez will first seek a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals with the home leg of a quarterfinal with Houston coming Wednesday night. Santos lost the first game, 1-0.

Alejandro Bedoya—The dynamic midfielder had a dynamic club situation this offseason. He’s back with the same Swedish club, Helsingborg, and is already showing well though the league hasn’t resumed. The Swedish cup has been in full swing and Bedoya scored in each of the previous two matches. Meanwhile, he continues to mention that regular playing time is important and told a reporter in Sweden he’s hoping to become a better goalscorer. So far, so good on that front.

Who’s Not?
The usual suspects – A number of U.S. men’s national team regulars missed out on club matches this weekend. Clint Dempsey and Fabian Johnson are injured but expected to return this week and be in for the World Cup qualifiers. Tim Howard is injured and not expected to return for the qualifiers. Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley missed their club’s matches in Bundesliga and Serie A, respectively, because of yellow card accumulation. Steve Cherundolo continues to work back from his injury. Landon Donovan continues to traipse around the world. All the injuries are enough to make you want to invest in a lot of bubble wrap. Really cushy, secure bubble wrap.

Charlie Davies—The one-time future of the American attack is now languishing a bench in Denmark. He’s played 20 minutes since the return of the league and hasn’t found the back of the net in either. It’s possible Randers will continue working him in and you have to say everyone is rooting for him. But for now things aren’t going smoothly for Davies.

Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) is a writer based in Arizona and is ASN's CONCACAF correspondent.

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