Ching, Casey target U.S. roster spot

U.S. World Cup hopeful Conor Casey is coming off a 16-goal season in MLS. Victor Decolongon/Getty Images

TAMPA, Fla. -- The U.S.' domestic-based B team meets El Salvador here Wednesday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN Classic, Galavisión), but while the bigger first-team game takes place next Wednesday at the Netherlands, there are still some things that we can learn as coach Bob Bradley continues narrowing his options toward naming a 23-man World Cup roster in May.

Of particular importance during the recent training camp is the so-called "target forward" position, where MLS stalwarts Brian Ching and Conor Casey are competing with each other for playing time -- and, perhaps, just one spot on the World Cup team. When I asked Bradley on Tuesday if Ching and Casey were fighting for one golden ticket, this is what he said: "Because they have similarities as players, it's a possibility it could come down to that. But I don't think we're at that point yet."

Both Ching, 31, and Casey, 28, could make a case for inclusion, not least because the absence of Charlie Davies after his October car accident has left the U.S. painfully thin at the forward position. (At this point, Jozy Altidore is the only forward who's a lock to make the World Cup team.) Ching started four of the U.S.' 10 games in the final round of World Cup qualifying and scored eight goals for Houston in MLS last season. Casey, meanwhile, provided two huge goals in the 3-2 win at Honduras in October, which punched the Americans' ticket to South Africa. His career-high 16 goals for Colorado made him the runner-up for the MLS Golden Boot to Jeff Cunningham.

Davies' speed gave the front line a new dimension, stretching out opposing defenses and creating space for the U.S. headliners, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, to attack from the midfield. The 6-foot, 192-pound Ching and 6-1, 190-pound Casey don't have that kind of speed. They aren't flashy players, nor are they asked to be. Ask them to describe their roles, and they're quick to mention things like holding the ball up front, battling in the air, scoring occasional goals and making runs off the ball.

"It's pretty simple," Casey said. "I'm not going to make a lot of chances out of beating two or three people, but I try to play simple and strong and get in good positions. You have 11 guys on the field, so certain guys do certain things. I'm aware of my limitations, but I try to do what I do as well as I can."

Ching, for his part, says he's healthy and refreshed now after taking two months off from soccer in the MLS offseason and missing the U.S.' January camp while strengthening an injured knee. Although he started in the 2-1 loss at Mexico in August, Ching wasn't chosen for the trip to Honduras in which Casey made such a big impact.

"In the Honduras game, it's kind of understandable," Ching said. "I think I struggled through the August and September part of the season last year. Physically and emotionally, I was kind of drained and down and wasn't at my best. I understand from the coach's point of view that that's what he saw. But I think I kind of climbed out of that at the end of the season and started playing better."

Of course, the gold standard for U.S. target forwards has always been Brian McBride, who played in three World Cups. Some observers have wondered if McBride, 37, might come out of international retirement for South Africa, but that seems unlikely. McBride wasn't part of the team during World Cup qualifying, and his inclusion on the 2008 Olympic team turned out to be far better in theory than in practice.

Barring injury or unexpected dips in form, then, Ching and/or Casey should be on the U.S. team. How will Bradley evaluate two players with such similar skill sets?

Brian Ching took some time off after the MLS season to rest and strengthen his knee. Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

"Brian does a lot of dirty work as a forward that helps the guys around him," Bradley said. "In the second half of last season he had some injury issues, things that were probably kept a little bit quiet. But clearly it showed as the season went on with Houston. In January, we spoke with him and [Houston coach] Dominic Kinnear and decided he would spend the time strengthening his knee. So now this is his first camp back. You see the qualities he's always had, just in terms of his mentality on the field. Now we need to see as we move along with him where he is. How's he moving around the field? What's his mobility like? Is he getting goals?"

For Casey, Bradley says, it's important that he takes his scoring chances as he did against Honduras, but he needs to do more than just that at the international level.

"When the games go faster sometimes, it's about being in good position, holding certain balls, working with the other striker so that now our first line of defense is good," Bradley said. "Those are all things that now become necessary for him, things that maybe are asked at some level in the league but not totally. If he does a little bit up top for Colorado, gets his goals, for most MLS strikers that's probably fine. But everything changes a little bit when we go into international competition."

Like most MLS players, Ching and Casey are easygoing guys with varied interests away from the field. Ching grew up in Hawaii wanting to be a professional surfer -- he learned on Waikiki Beach from his surf-loving father -- but took up soccer at age 7 and fell in love with the sport while playing for his first coach, who happened to be his mother. These days he's into travel: During every MLS offseason, he tries to go someplace he has never been before. This past year it was Australia, where he visited an island near the Great Barrier Reef and surfed near Sydney.

Casey says he tries to get away from soccer when he's not playing. During his six years in Germany, where he played for Borussia Dortmund, Hannover, Karlsruhe and Mainz, he became a voracious reader of everything from Ayn Rand to Malcolm Gladwell. Now that he's living in his hometown of Denver again, he has taken up the guitar and spends his time attending Denver Nuggets games and enjoying the outdoors.

But both players know that mainstream U.S. sports fans won't find out much about them unless they make the World Cup team. And both say they're trying not to let the competition for a roster spot bother them.

"I don't think about it, honestly," Ching said. "The more you analyze it and try to think about it, the more worried you get and less focused about just going out there and playing."

The playing part continues Wednesday.

MLS players on the verge of a strike?

The deadline for a new collective bargaining agreement between the MLS players and the league is Thursday, and as the time passes the players seem closer and closer to going on strike. On Tuesday, I spoke to Los Angeles Galaxy player rep Chris Klein about the current situation. If you've read my book, you'll know that Klein is one of the smarter players in the league when it comes to economic issues. The owner of a business degree from Indiana University, Klein has worked as a financial adviser for MLS players, providing estate planning and investment strategy services since earning his Series 7 and Series 66 certifications in 2007. After his playing days, he plans to start a business advising soccer players.

"I'm optimistic by nature," Klein said. "Through the whole thing I've been very optimistic. It's reached a stage now where I don't have that optimism. In negotiations you hope that one side gives a little and the other side gives a little, and eventually we meet somewhere in the middle. That's not the case at this point. I'm hopeful it will move to that stage, but right now it's not the case."

The biggest sticking point is the players' desire for limited free agency within MLS. The league has said it is willing to provide more guaranteed contracts and fewer one-way league options (both union priorities), but it will not move an inch on internal free agency.

Klein emphasized that while the players aren't challenging the league's single-entity structure, he believes that there should be limited free agency for, say, a veteran like Steve Ralston who has finished his MLS contract. Ralston recently signed with second-tier St. Louis when he was unable to reach a new agreement with New England.

"A structure that I would [like to] see is a player who has played for a while in this league, take Steve Ralston, would have the opportunity to decide where he wants to play," Klein said. "I wouldn't even take away the rights from [New England] to be able to keep that player, but I believe a veteran player in our league should have some freedom of movement."

Keep in mind, the MLS season isn't scheduled to start until March 25, so the players could go on strike this week and still not miss any regular-season games. The first competitive game involving an MLS team is the CONCACAF Champions League game between Columbus and Toluca scheduled for March 9.