by Jeff Dieffenbach

Chicago Fire coach Bob Bradley is reported to have said once about Fire and US Men’s National Team defensive midfield stalwart Chris Armas, “He’s everywhere you want him to be.” Unfortunately for national team coach Bruce Arena, one place that Armas won’t be is South Korea.

Armas tore his right ACL while planting his foot against Uruguay in a World Cup tune-up match at RFK Stadium in Washington DC Sunday. Armas’ injury raises speculation about which alternate will be called up to fill his roster spot.

Leading candidates are Richie Williams, himself a defensive midfielder, midfielder Brian Maisonneuve, and defenders Greg Vanney and Richard Mulrooney. None of this group would be likely to start, however; instead, Arena will be forced to shuffle his line-up.

One possibility is to drop attacking midfielder and field general Claudio Reyna back to defensive midfield, drop Clint Mathis from forward to attacking midfield, and insert Landon Donovan at forward. Reyna was unavailable Sunday but is expected to play Thursday against Jamaica in the second of three preparation matches (the third is against Netherlands on Sunday at CMGi Field in Foxboro, Massachusetts).

A second possibility is to drop John O’Brien, who did not play against Uruguay, to defensive midfield, with Cobi Jones starting in at right midfield based on his strong showing Sunday. This option disrupts the line-up less and leaves Reyna at the quarterback spot.

Mathis and Donovan (the latter as a second half substitute) both had strong offensive games against Uruguay in the 2-1 US win, repeatedly putting the defense under pressure. Donovan’s game wasn’t all positive, though, as an errant back pass was picked off leading to Uruguay’s goal. Starting up front with Mathis, Brian McBride played his usual strong game.

The real offensive start, without a doubt, was 19-year old DaMarcus Beasley. Beasley forced an early corner kick that Jeff Agoos served to the head of a slicing Tony Sanneh. Sanneh sent the ball on a sharp angle to the near upper corner to put the US up 1-0.

Sanneh played solidly for two thirds of the game before leaving with apparent muscle cramps. Uruguay had begun to make inroads on Sanneh’s side down the left, causing Arena to send in the supposedly fast Frankie Hejduk. Hejduk ended up being as effective as the hobbled Sanneh, and was bailed out only by the again exceptional play of goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

Friedel repeatedly denied the Uruguay strikers on point blank efforts, including twice but not an impossible third time on the Uruguay goal. Did Friedel’s effort help his cause for the starting spot? Perhaps not, as Arena alluded after the match that he fully expects Kasey Keller to have an equally strong effort against Jamaica to even out the competition.

Earnie Stewart and second half substitute Joe-Max Moore continued their unfortunate string of “Invisible Man” efforts. While Stewart is likely to start at midfield, Moore may be the odd man out in South Korea, experience giving way to the speed of late game substitute prospect Josh Wolff (who, along with Tony Meola, Gregg Berhalter, and Carlos Llamosa, did not play against Uruguay).

On defense, David Regis failed to leave his mark on the match, but that failure may be to his favor, as his mark of late has been one defensive error marring an otherwise stellar effort. Pablo Mastroeni, who substitute for the injured Armas, similarly played a solid but unexceptional game. Two players who did leave their mark defensively were Eddie Pope and Agoos.

In fact, the Agoos effort was so strong that Fire coach Bradley may be tempted to lend him Armas’ tagline—he was everywhere you wanted him to be.