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By Jeff Green, CNNSI.com

If your name is Pablo Mastroeni, Richard Mulrooney or Carlos Llamosa -- among several others on the bubble -- you have up to three national team matches and six weeks to impress United States coach Bruce Arena before he selects his roster for the World Cup.

Prior to Sunday's 1-0 victory against Ecuador, Arena said he had almost narrowed down his roster to the final 23 names.

"There's obviously some competition for several players, but for the most part, I'm getting close to that," he said.

Arena will next call in his European corps to face Germany in Rostock on March 27, followed by an April 3 warmup against Mexico in Denver, which is likely to feature primarily MLS-based players.

The U.S. will then travel to Dublin to face the World Cup-bound Irish on April 17, and that appears to be Arena's self-imposed deadline.

After Sunday's win, he said he would select the 23 players to represent the U.S. in South Korea and Japan in "five to six weeks."

That would leave the final three pre-World Cup matches for finishing touches, against Uruguay on May 12 at Washington; Jamaica on May 16 at East Rutherford, N.J.; and the Netherlands on May 19 at Foxboro, Mass.

Arena must submit his final roster to FIFA by May 21, 10 days before the start of the tournament.

After wins in two straight weeks with primarily MLS-based players -- first 4-0 over Honduras and than against Ecuador -- Arena was asked who had helped their standing on the roster.

Goalscorer Eddie Lewis was the first name mentioned.

"Lewis continues to improve himself in my eyes," Arena said. "I think McBride had another good game. I think Donovan and Armas did well. I think our back four did a good job, and I was really pleased with Tim Howard getting a shutout in his first game. There were a lot of good performances [against Ecuador]."

Without reading too much into a single answer, it's worth noting that the only players not included by Arena were forward Clint Mathis and midfielder Cobi Jones.

Arena later addressed the performance of Mathis, who set up Lewis' goal before being ejected with his second yellow card.

"Again, we see the good and the bad," said Arena. "He's still a very dangerous attacking player. He just needs to be a little more mature in these situations."

Arena was pleased, however, with the way the U.S. was able to kill off the game playing shorthanded for half an hour.

"We got more out of this game today than we did last week [against Honduras]," he said. "This is a little different than the last game, playing an opponent that is no longer a part of the World Cup. [Ecuador's] players are like ours, fighting for spots on the roster. That's why it was such an intense game."

Of the six remaining U.S. opponents before the World Cup, all but the last two are competing in South Korea-Japan.

In the picture

So which players will still be around for those final warmups? At this point, nobody knows -- including Arena. But we'll take a stab at it, based on him comments and their performances.

Three of the roster spots are reserved for goalkeepers, and two of those belong to Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller, with newcomer Tim Howard and Zach Thornton possibilities for third-string. The fight for the starting spot will be one of the closest on the squad.

On defense, San Jose stalwart Jeff Agoos is among the first names in the starting lineup. He holds the longest streak for matches started among U.S. players with 16, most of them as a central defender and the last two on the left side. Center back Eddie Pope and left-sided David Regis appear safe, while Tony Sanneh's versatility and physical attributes should earn him a spot.

Arena's experimentation with San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Richard Mulrooney at right back shows that position to be less than settled.

At midfield, the only definite starters are defensive linchpin Chris Armas and captain Claudio Reyna. Sure to make the 23 are Holland-based John O'Brien and Earnie Stewart, plus potential forward Landon Donovan, who has started 13-straight games for the U.S. and has recently been groomed as Reyna's stand-in at attacking midfield.

None of those shoo-ins are true flank players. Lewis, who is one, has strengthened his standing despite a lack of playing time at Fulham. Winger Cobi Jones has seen his stock slide, but he's still a likely option.

At forward, injury-prone Brian McBride has solidified a starting spot as the team's only target man -- if he withstands the beating of the upcoming MLS season. Mathis remains the team's most dangerous attacker, having scored two goals against Honduras in his first start since overcoming a serious knee injury.

"Everybody knows that everyone is still fighting for jobs here," said McBride. "The greatest thing about that is that we're a team. Nobody's sitting here saying, 'I should be doing this, I should be doing that.' I think that transfers on the field in games like today when you have to work for each other."

That's a positive sign considering the internal strife that plagued the 1998 World Cup team.

"In our first eight games in 2002, I think we've shown marked improvement," said Arena. "Hopefully we can mix this group and this attitude with the guys in Europe to make ourselves a real good team come World Cup time."

Disagree with our picks? Have your say.

Bubble Watch
Possible Pool for U.S. National Team 23-Man World Cup Roster
	Locks	On the Bubble	Longshots
Goalkeepers	1. Kasey Keller 2. Brad Friedel	*Tim Howard Zach Thornton	Tony Meola
Defenders	3. Jeff Agoos 4. Eddie Pope 5. David Regis 6. Tony Sanneh	Greg Berhalter Steve Cherundolo *Frankie Hejduk *Carlos Llamosa *Pablo Mastroeni *Richard Mulrooney	Carlos Bocanegra Diego Gutierrez Greg Vanney
Midfielders	7. Chris Armas 8. Landon Donovan 9. John O'Brien 10. Claudio Reyna 11. Earnie Stewart	*DaMarcus Beasley *Cobi Jones *Eddie Lewis	Bobby Convey Brian Maisonnueve Brian West Richie Williams
Forwards	12. Clint Mathis 13. Brian McBride 14. Josh Wolff	Jovan Kirovski *Joe-Max Moore Ante Razov	Jeff Cunningham
* = CNNSI.com's preferred picks for the final roster.

D.C. out of Champions Cup; San Jose wins first leg D.C United came from behind in the second half to defeat Comunicaciones of Guatemala 2-1 in the second leg of their first-round CONCACAF Champions Cup match on Wednesday. D.C. lost the series 5-2 on aggregate but took pride in salvaging a win. Mark Lisi equalized in the 62nd minute, and Eddie Pope's header in the 89th minute proved to be the game-winner. Meanwhile, defending MLS champion San Jose Earthquakes defeated CD Olimpia of Honduras 1-0 in the away leg of their matchup in the Champions Cup round of 16. Richard Mulrooney scored with a 28-yard shot in the 73rd minute.

Ali in D.C. D.C. United acquired forward Ali Curtis in a trade with the Dallas Burn on Tuesday. United sent a third-round pick in the 2003 draft to the Burn in exchange for Curtis. Curtis, formerly of the Tampa Bay Mutiny, was selected by the Burn in the MLS waiver draft. Curtis made his United debut Wednesday against Comunicaciones at RFK Stadium, coming on as a substitute for Abdul Thompson Conteh in the 62nd minute.

Galaxy win disappoints home crowd Simon Elliott scored in the 32nd minute to give the Los Angeles Galaxy a 1-0 victory Tuesday in a friendly against Cruz Azul. The match was played in front of a standing-room-only crowd of about 7,800 at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium, many of whom were cheering for the visitors. Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman preserved the shutout by making diving saves against Miguel Zepeda in the 74th minute and Angel Morales in the 75th minute.

Harkes re-signs with MLS, Wynalda doesn't Five-time MLS All-Star midfielder John Harkes re-signed with the Columbus Crew on Wednesday. The news came the day after reports in Soccer America and the New York Daily News said fellow MLS veteran Eric Wynalda had turned down an offer to re-sign with the Galaxy and would instead join the A-League's Charleston Battery. Terms of Harkes' contract were not disclosed, but his reduced salary was reported to be about $60,000 by Soccer America. Harkes, 35, is a veteran of six MLS seasons and six years in the English Premier League and First Division. He is a former captain of the U.S. national team.

Dallas sends Griffiths to Metros for Countess The Dallas Burn on Wednesday acquired goalkeeper D.J. Countess and a second-round selection in next year's draft from the MetroStars in exchange for recently acquired Jamaican midfielder Winston Griffiths and the Burn's first-round selection in the draft. Burn coach Mike Jeffries called Countess, 20, "the top young goalkeeper in this country." As a member of Pro-40, Countess will not count against the Burn's roster limit. Griffiths, 23, trained with the MetroStars for two weeks during preseason but was acquired by the Burn in a special MLS lottery for his rights earlier this month. Griffiths is a primarily left-sided midfielder with 25 caps as a member of Jamaica's national team. He played for the Connecticut Wolves of the A-League during the 2001 season.

MISL honors Cleveland Crunch forward Hector Marinaro and goalkeeper Otto Orf were named Major Indoor Soccer League Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week. Marinaro had a two-point goal and nine assists in two games last week, earning his fourth Player of the Week award of the season. He had four assists in Cleveland's 14-10 win over Milwaukee on Friday, and notched a two-point goal with a season-high five assists in Saturday's a 20-6 win over Baltimore. Orf allowed just three goals in Cleveland's win over Baltimore, stopping 25 of 28 shots. He currently ranks fifth in the league with a .711 save percentage and sixth with a 13.31 points-against average.   Get well soon New England Revolution general manager Todd Smith was recently diagnosed with leukemia and will continue in his role with the team while undergoing chemotherapy. "They got the [leukemia] early," Smith, 36, told the Boston Globe. "This is just a speed bump on the road of life that is going to cause me to look more closely at the things that are most important.''

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"Not just surface criticism" -- By Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Injured D.C. United forward Jaime Moreno returned to Bolivia, his home country, to receive acupuncture treatment for a month, according to the Washington Post. D.C. coach Ray Hudson told the paper that Moreno could return in six or seven weeks. That layoff would be considerably longer than was expected when Moreno had offseason knee surgery.

This is your chance to sound off on all topics related to U.S. soccer. We know you disagree with our U.S. World Cup selections, so tell us who you'd choose. We'll print the most interesting, succinct and grammatically correct responses in coming editions of the Glance, which is returning from hiatus in time for the MLS season.

Your name: Your e-mail address: Your hometown: Your take here (in 25 words or less)

CNNSI.com wire services contributed to this report.

 

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