October's slate of international contests will soon be upon us, which means US manager Bruce Arena and Canada counterpart Octavio Zambrano have surely been glued to their televisions scouting MLS action.
With that in mind, we're back with our weekly report on which US and Canada hopefuls are enhancing their national team prospects and which ones are tumbling down the depth chart.
US national team
UP
Michael Parkhurst: With all the deserved hoopla surrounding Atlanta United's fiery attack and snazzy new digs, the play of their back line marshal has largely gone unnoticed. It shouldn't have. Parkhurst has been adept at cleaning up opposing fast breaks and then moving the ball safely out of the back. In part thanks to his leadership, the southern gents have racked up four clean sheets in their last five games.
Christian Ramirez: The Minnesota United forward has come back from a recent injury with a vengeance. Ramirez started the Loons' weekend rally past FC Dallas with a breakaway goal, giving him strikes in three straight starts for the first time in his rookie season. If that wasn't enough, he also set up best buddy Miguel Ibarra's winner with a clever lob feed.
Justen Glad: No one should expect Bruce Arena to tab the Real Salt Lake defender for October's crunch World Cup qualifiers, but the youngster's form means he could well get a look early next year. Glad has been one of the league's better center backs since returning from injuries and US Under-20 duty in June. He's averaged 16 total defensive stops over his last nine games, which has seen the Royals charge into a playoff position. He should also be one of players announced to MLSsoccer.com's 24 Under 24 this week.
DOWN
Bill Hamid: This down arrow is more of a presumptive designation, rather than one for recent field exploits. After all, the D.C. United 'keeper nabbed Save of the Week honors in the last round. However, with Hamid apparently looking to make a free agent move overseas in January, Black-and Red boss Ben Olsen started recent pick-up Steve Clark in goal this weekend with an eye toward the future. If that maneuver holds, the US international will probably not see any games for at least a few months.
Canada national team
UP
Anthony Jackson-Hamel: We discussed the Montreal Impact striker's recent slump last week, but he broke out of it with a big bang in Week 29. Jackson-Hamel bagged a pair of goals (including the stand-up winner) and added an assist in the Impact's huge away derby win over Toronto FC on Wednesday. He now has nine tallies in just 934 minutes of play, putting him well ahead of every strike rate in the league not owned by Josef Martinez.
Kofi Opare: The D.C. defender helped the home side post a shutout win this weekend, their fourth from the last six games. Opare has also become a real set piece threat, notching two goals and a helper since the start of August.
DOWN
Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla: After starting 10 games from April to July, the young Montreal attacker has become a bit player since the start of August. With a pair of DNP's this past week, Tabla has now worked just 62 minutes across three sub appearances in the playoff-chaser's last 10 matches.
