Christmas has come and gone but the New Year is the best time for wishing what might transpire in the next 12 months.

Our arbitrary classification of players by position presents the strikers, who specialize in finishing chances though they may be adept at creating them as well.

The loose definitions used here are that strikers play further forward most of the time, with forwards working underneath and alongside. Not every team plays this way, and some teams really only play with one man up top, but generally, most players can be categorized in this manner.

Attacking midfielder includes those players recognized as true No. 10s, such as Real Salt Lake's Javier Morales and Portland's Diego Valeri, but can also list other types.

There aren't a lot of dynamic left-sided attacking players in MLS, and so the left midfield slot remains one of the league's weaker positions.

Into the gray area of who does what in the center of the park comes this edition of the Soccer America MLS positional rankings.

The classification of midfielders into separate categories for those who are primarily defensive and those imbued with two-way skill sets always involves interpretation.

As part of its centennial anniversary of 2013, U.S. Soccer named an All-Time Men's National Team Best XI. It's a nice looking team with some excellent players who've made great contributions to the national team program.

MLS squads as a whole may be lacking in certain player types, but the right side of central defense is well-stocked.

Many observers believe the two centerback slots to be interchangeable, and while it's true that some players can toggle back and forth to good effect, most will tell you they'd rather stick to one slot and probably not play out on the corners.

The increased intensity of the typical MLS match is partially a result of more athletic players imbued with some skill occupying the outside back slots.

It's been a while since MLS provided the U.S. national team with a capable pool of left backs.

So what should we make of the U.S. U-17s' 4-1 win over Brazil Friday at the Nike International Friendlies? You could say they beat Alexandre Gallo's young Brazilians so badly that they gave up. After a second red card with five minutes to play, the Brazilians stood at the midfield line and refused to challenge the ball handler. Sort of like the end of a basketball game, only we're talking minutes, not seconds.

Despite a fleet of promising young keepers, MLS again confirmed the belief that experience is invaluable.

In one fell swoop, Sunil Gulati killed a huge chunk of national-team discussion for the foreseeable future.