U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu may be the breakout star of World Cup qualifying. Victor Decolongon/Getty Images
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There's a lot to talk about after the Main Event in Columbus, Ohio, with the U.S. clinching a World Cup berth against archrival Mexico.

So let's begin our U.S. men's national team notes by pointing out that Oguchi Onyewu had what may have been a career breakout performance by shutting down Jared Borgetti on Saturday. It's not often you see a player at this level improving by leaps and bounds every game, but that's exactly what Gooch is doing.

Now that the U.S. has qualified, the soccerheads at Sports Illustrated already have been exchanging e-mails trying to predict the U.S.'s final 23-man roster for Germany '06. Here's the take I sent out:

Goalkeepers (3): Kasey Keller, Tim Howard, Marcus Hahnemann. The first two are obvious, and I'm guessing Hahnemann for No. 3 at this point. Third GK has to be the greatest spot imaginable: almost no effort whatsoever, and his World Cup share in 2002 was around a quarter-mil. (Tony Meola should still be thanking head coach Bruce Arena for this.)

Defenders (8): Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Bocanegra, Eddie Lewis, Eddie Pope, Cory Gibbs, Chris Albright, Gregg Berhalter. Arena took eight defenders in '02 and was still scraping the bottom of the barrel by the end due to yellow cards. (You wouldn't have wanted to see the lineup against Korea if the U.S. had made the semis.) So I'm guessing at least eight here.

The big question is whether the Lewis experiment at left back succeeds. If so, I think Frankie Hejduk might be in trouble. Or maybe Albright, but I'd guess Albright wins by a hair if it comes down to him or Hejduk. (Frankie's getting older.) Jonathan Spector could get some game time this fall, but I don't think there'll be enough chances for him to make it.

Midfielders (8): DaMarcus Beasley, Claudio Reyna, John O'Brien, Pablo Mastroeni, Chris Armas, Bobby Convey, Clint Dempsey, Santino Quaranta. Convey has an up-arrow these days, and I think he makes it. Arena also likes Dempsey and his versatility. Perhaps surprisingly, I think Armas will make it. Arena needs a back-up for Mastroeni, and Dempsey/Reyna don't fit the bill, plus Arena feels bad about what happened to Armas before '02.