Ching is Going to Deutschland

Ching's recent form (and probably his ability to work well with Donovan) got him on the 23-man USMNT heading to the World Cup in Germany. His selection surprised many soccer pundits. I, too, thought Twellman would be selected, not because Twellman deserved to go over Ching, but because Arena seemed to be comfortable with Twellman...even though Twellman really hasn't proven himself internationally. The fact that his NE teammates (Noonan and Ralston) won't be going due to injury probably put him behind Ching since both forwards rely on good service to score, and Ching has a better rapport with the "servers" who are going to Germany.

Mark Connolly has an interesting piece on mlsnet.com. Like the other pundits, he thought that Twellman would go over Ching (and probably that Twellman should go over Ching), but it's a good piece nonetheless. Here's an excerpt:

Personally, I'm surprised to see Ching on the roster over Twellman. When you sat down and put up the pros and cons for both players, the columns are probably pretty equal. I just got the idea that when Arena envisioned looking down the bench in the middle of a tie match and needed to insert a player into the game to get him a goal, he'd want Twellman over Ching. Maybe that would have been the case back in February or March. But Ching's impressive display of goal-scoring ability over the month of April (six goals) compared to Twellman's lone tally last weekend might just have been enough to separate what was a paper-thin difference between the two strikers.

"Brian didn't necessarily win us over the last six weeks," said Arena. But he also followed that up by saying that "form, at the moment" had a little to do with the decision.

If anything, Twellman should be frustrated by the fact that his Revolution side switched to a 3-4-3 formation this spring, which made it difficult on him because it took over his freedom as far as making angled runs and it often isolated him against two bigger and taller centerbacks throughout the first month of the MLS season.

Holding true to his statements that the roster would be decided over the sum of the players' contributions from the last World Cup onward, Arena mentioned Ching's solid play in the qualifying win over Guatemala last March in Birmingham, Ala., when he started up top alongside Eddie Johnson and from his game-tying goal against Jamaica way back in August of 2004 when he helped the U.S. earn a vital point on the road in Kingston.

By mentioning how the opponents of the side played a role in shaping his roster, Arena clearly likes the size and power that Ching brings to the table. It gives him an option to pair with a quicker player such as Johnson, Josh Wolff and even Donovan.

Donovan, a former teammate of Ching, as well, from their time in San Jose said that Ching "does the things that do not show up on a stat sheet," as he battles and knows how to help clear space for his fellow front-runner.

Even with Ching and Conrad being two mild surprises on this list, what's most mind-boggling is how nobody knew Arena's final 23. Usually, news gets passed around pretty quickly. ... In the case of this roster, it was truly kept top secret.