Weekend Roundup: International nonsense; absences hurt

Much like the titular character in the modern indie classic Super Meat Boy, our midfield has been left exposed and vulnerable. Thankfully, it's not literally that they have no skin (and figuratively, they're generally thick-skinned and all that), but that they are just left a little bare.

Oh, bad pun. My apologies.

Anyway, the following are likely out: Beckerman, Johnson, Grabavoy. Oh, you know, just three-quarters of our starting midfield. No big deal. (Hey, I'm glad we've still Javi in there, though.) Who might replace them?

Yordany Alvarez for Kyle Beckerman is almost certain. It's a drop-off in quality, to be sure, but we're not left stranded here. But let's think for a second: Given our absences, who would we play if not Yordany Alvarez? (Let the crickets set in for a  moment.) Yeah, that's sort of what I thought. I have zero clue. Maybe Jonny Steele, though he's hardly a good fit there. Maybe, uh… Nico Muñiz? He's played there, too.

Anyway, whoa.

Jonny Steele for Will Johnson. They're fairly similar in their playing style (to an extent), so it's a bit of like-for-like, and I'm honestly not too fussed here. Would I rather Will was here? Well, yes. That's obvious, isn't it?

In for Grabavoy is Luis Gil, who has just come back from international duty so he can play against Seattle. What a kid. He provides much more in attack, but he's never going to track back in the same way as Grabavoy. He's not nearly as tactically disciplined. I do, however, hope he proves me wrong.

Anyway, not so bad, right? I suspect this means Sebastian Velasquez will be on the bench and will likely see minutes, and we might even see Enzo Martinez or David Viana. Maybe.

Aside from that, here's some Sunday reading material for you lot. Do enjoy it, will you?

I wrote a feature on Justin Braun and how he feels about not playing: It's a fun, fairly quick read, and Justin was good to speak to. From my piece: "Justin Braun tries to look past that. "It's just another team," he says after a rain-soaked bout of Saturday training. "I try to look at it like that, just coming out here as if I wasn't in my hometown. Obviously, there are a lot of people around here that know me."

I've also written about our international absences and about the first set of international matches. Read on, kind souls.