Edson Buddle Gets The Call: A Mere Formality Becomes Reality

Yes, everyone saw it coming. I saw it coming, you saw it coming, your next door neighboor shedding a tear (or not) for the Seattle Sounders saw it coming...everyone did.

Ladies and gentlemen on the View and on Bleacher Report, welcome back to the USA Men's National Team...Edson Buddle.

You can hear church bells ringing in the distance (if not, picture the noise like this ). I bring you great news. The scoring hopes of a resurging footballing country may be saved. Say hello to fresh wind in your sails, noble Yanks.

Roy Lassiter, rest assured...your record is safe for now. Although I will say this...Edson might notch at least one more for good measure before taking off for the May gauntlet.

With Buddle, former Galaxy ace and now Puebla star Herculez Gomez, your usual suspect Landon Donovan and others named to the 30-man preliminary USA national team roster, I will now go on the record and say that Bob Bradley is doing whatever he can to save his skins. He needs Edson.

I will say it one more time. He. Needs. Edson. And at least as a trialist to see if his scoring touch translates nicely to the friendlies against the Czech Republic and Turkey in late May.

And to raise the stakes a little, I will predict that Buddle will stay on the roster if he scores at least once. It doesn't have to be in both matches, just once.

It's going to take a huge, history-changing, logic-defying error on Bradley's part to let Edson go if he scores two or three minimum at Rentschler and Lincoln Financial Fields, respectively.

“Both Edson and Herculez have had a very good season,” Bradley said in a conference call earlier this week. “Both have helped their teams a great deal. Edson has been the hottest goal scorer in MLS and has helped the Galaxy get off to a great start.

"Herculez was an important player with Puebla and scored a lot of goals. We feel that both of them have shown enough for us to take a look at them as we start the camp.”

“Nothing happens before the time,” Buddle said on the call-up. “Right now it’s happened and who knows why I never got called in before. Timing is everything and maybe it’s my time to show what I could do.”

Indeed it is your time, Edson Buddle. Now make the most of it and do your country proud.

But first, how about you take care of some business with a certain club up north?