When it comes to this beautiful game I don’t think anyone would deny that the goalkeeper is our best position. In a beautiful game we’re best at the most rough and tumble spot on the field. I wouldn’t go so far as to back Alexi Lalas’s boasting during the 2006 World Cup that we have the unquestioned best keeper’s in the world, but I would look at our goalkeeping squad over the past 15-20 years and put it up against any other keeping squad in the world. Our backups are generally not too far off the pace of our starters. In 2002 we had Keller baking up Friedel. In 2006 we had Howard and Hanneman backing up Keller. It’s a pretty sweet set-up we’ve got going in the net. But our current situation bothers me just a little bit…something just isn’t sitting right with me.
My concern right now isn’t one concerning our unquestioned starter and sheer man-wall Tim Howard. If anything I’m concerned that Howard is a little TOO good right now. What I’m more worried about at the moment is Brad Guzan. Guzan’s move to Premier side Aston Villa was a great move as far as I was concerned, and I was extremely excited to see him be able to challenge for first team football in the EPL. But I was extremely dissapointed to learn that Villa had gone on to sign Brad Friedel from Blackburn. Considering that Friedel is still playing at an amazing level, it’s great to know that he can mentor Guzan, but there’s just no way Guzan is ready to challenge Friedel for a top spot. So then, is it better for him to sit on the bench in the Premier League, or start every game in the MLS? I want to know that if Howard goes down, we’ve got a quality man to step in-between the pipes because, let’s be honest, our defense has learned to rely on Howard’s ability to single-handedly hold a game together when we aren’t playing well. I can’t think of another position on the field that the USMNT has come to rely the same way that they rely on the keeper in recent years and I don’t like the idea of our backup making a major move only for that club to go get someone better to play in front of him so he can ride the pine.
Right now our center defense is all brawn and little brain, in my humble opinion. Tim Howard has been the perfect man to manage this unfortunate situation. We are slowly working our way into a situation where the drop off from first to second choice keeper is big and getting bigger, and we are learning to rely on a specific player due to his amazing talent, and the limited players we put around him knowing that he can handle it.
