Who’s Hot?

Alejandro Bedoya: Before the Swedish season started, we pinpointed the midfielder’s commitment to scoring more goals. The man can keep a promise. He’s scored three goals in the past four matches for Helsingborg, including a match winner Sunday that put the club atop the Allsvenskan. Just months ago, Bedoya was trying to work out where he should fly after a national team camp because he didn’t have a team. Now, he again looks primed to move to a situation that is better positioned in quality than Sweden and better positioned financially than Rangers.

Sam Cronin: We know Jurgen Klinsmann is watching San Jose. With Alan Gordon’s shock call-up last summer and fullbacks Justin Morrow and Steven Beitashour both ending up in January camp, could we see Cronin as the next Quake in camp? He had a tremendous showing against Montreal on Saturday, assisting one goal and finishing the equalizer in stoppage time. Gordon, Chris Wondolowski, and Steven Lenhart always get their names in the headlines, but Cronin and Shea Salinas hold things together and make things happen in attack. Perhaps we’ll see one of their names on a national team roster some time soon.

Jozy Altidore: Jozy Altidore is always hot.

Who’s Not?

Eric Lichaj: We saw Lichaj for the first time in four months this weekend, but rather than jolting his national team prospects, the appearance served as a reminder of just how long it’d been since he did anything significant. His 62 minutes after he came on for an injured player weren’t bad; he even won over some of the Villa fans who generally have a distaste for him. Plus, he’s still hanging in the ASN 100 at #45—a spot above Bedoya—but the longer he’s irrelevant for his club, the longer the odds he plays any role with the Stars and Stripes. Klinsmann didn’t think Lichaj merited a look when the fullback situation was at DEFCON 2. If he can’t find a situation where he plays more often than a handful of times a season without showing much in terms of development, the months without a national team call will keep stockpiling.

Benny Feilhaber: Remove Benny from the starting XI, win 4-0. OK, Sporting Kansas City likely would’ve rolled Chivas USA even if Feilhaber was among the starters, but it’s not a good look. This season hasn’t been the rollicking revitalization hoped for when Feilhaber moved from the Revs this offseason. We need more of this: Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) is a writer based in Arizona and is ASN's CONCACAF correspondent.