Clint Dempsey will not play for the United States in the World Cup qualifier at Honduras on Saturday, and this has triggered a lot of hand-wringing and consternation in the American soccer community.

If only DaMarcus Beasley were alive!

Oh, yeah. He is. He just can’t play worth a darn anymore.

What the U.S. could use is the 2002-era Beasley taking over for Dempsey at left midfield. Remember the guy who was so fast, so shifty that he discombobulated opponents from 2001 to about 2006? Well, he’s been hurt for nearly two years, and was atrocious in the Confederations Cup, and now is nearly forgotten as he molders on the bench with Rangers in Glasgow. But that old DaMarcus (still only 27) would be handy, right now.

Now … what to do … in a match that could swing the U.S. World Cup chances one way … or the other?

The U.S. offense, under coach Bob Bradley, has been a sort of four-man attack, with (usually) Charlie Davies and Jozy Altidore up top and Landon Donovan and Dempsey coming up the wings.

The central midfielders, usually Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark, have been defense-first players. Most teams playing a 4-4-2 will have one attack-oriented central mid … but neither Bradley nor Clark is really up to that, and it usually is better to have them trailing the attack so they can get back on defense.

And in a game at Honduras, where the U.S. would be quite satisfied with a tie, you don’t want one of the central mids surging ahead recklessly, anyway.

So, with Dempsey out, what should coach Bob Bradley do? What will he do?

Let’s make a few stipulations, first.

1. Bob Bradley is a very cautious, very conservative coach. Unlike armchair coaches, he is not going to move five guys around to fill one vacancy. You can advocate all sorts of creative approaches (a different formation, etc.) … but Bradley is not going to do that.  He just won’t.

2. A tie (1-1? Even 0-0) out of Honduras would be a great result, considering that Honduras is 4-0 at home in the Hexagonal and has a 12-2 goal differential at home. Thus, look for a defense-oriented lineup.

3. Bradley will almost certainly replace Dempsey with the player he has seen most often and who has been sharpest while playing for him.

Which means … Stuart Holden almost certainly will play in Dempsey’s place on Saturday.

A great debate is raging in the U.S. soccer community over the magnitude of disaster Dempsey’s absence (via shoulder injury suffered with Fulham, in England) really is. There are many who rue the absence of the squad’s most creative scorer — I still marvel at the half-volley goal he scored against Brazil in the Confederations Cup — and there are others who regard him as a national team slacker who exerts himself only in the attack. He actually is both.

This we must concede: Any time you take the field without a player who can score the goals Dempsey can, you are a lesser squad. Maybe he should be playing forward, and not outside mid, where his lack of commitment to defense is so obvious. But the man can score.

Anyway, who plays in his stead?

Stuart Holden seems the only answer.

Holden distinguished himself during the Gold Cup, and has made cameos in qualifiers since then. He has a high work rate, is known for making accurate crosses and is a genuine mid and is willing to work back … and that is the kind of player the U.S. needs on Saturday, where (let’s be frank) Job 1 will be preventing goals, not scoring them.

That puts Holden on the right, presumably, and Donovan on the left (though they can flip).

The rest of the lineup?

I believe Bradley will keep his 4-4-2, because that’s what his team knows. A Steve Sampson might roll the dice and try a new formation. Bob Bradley will not.

I suspect Davies and Brian Ching up top, Donovan, Bradley, Clark and Holden at midfield … and now we get to a debatable area — the back four.

Oguchi Onyewu is in the middle. That is non-negotiable, even if he still hasn’t played one minute for AC Milan.

With Jay DeMerit still hurt, and Honduras featuring some size and strength up front, it seems as if Carlos Bocanegra has to take the other central spot. Leaving, on the flanks,  four candidates for two jobs — Jonathan Bornstein, Jonathan Spector, Steve Cherundolo and the X Factor, Frankie Hejduk, who joined the team just today.

I believe Bradley should (and will) go with Spector and … Hejduk.

Spector is sitting in England, but he is training, so he probably isn’t as rusty as we might fear. Also, he is bigger and faster than his primary competition for this slot — Cherundolo, who hasn’t been quite the same guy since returning from hip surgery. Spector also is better at coming forward, not that moving into the offense will be a primary role, at Honduras.

That leaves Bornstein or Frankie at left back. Bornstein has the stronger left foot, but I believe Frankie goes into the starting lineup. For a couple of reasons: Bradley will not have forgotten Bornstein’s horrific non-clearance that led to a nearly disastrous goal vs. El Salvador … but Bradley will remember Frankie defending like a madman at El Salvador (a warm night in front of a crazy crowd), and the goal he scored to tie the match, and he already knows Frankie’s (astounding) work rate and his veteran cool. Left back is not the position Frankie was born to play, but he is the best option there for this game.

This will be a very difficult match for the Americans. I’m not sure the average U.S. sports fan realizes that. An exotic environment, probably with lots of heat and humidity (long-range forecast for Saturday: high of 95 degrees with a chance of thunderstorms), a solid opponent with a great home record, more than a hint of political chaos (the president was ousted in a coup and is hiding out in the Brazil embassy, up in Teguchigalpa), one of the team’s most important players (Dempsey) unavailable and World Cup berths on the line.

A very tough environment, and Bob Bradley will, I believe, go for the lineup that gives him the most comfort. The one I just outlined.