1.I'm not sure what ratings your using or what it proves? It's not fair to look at a very small snapshot when determining how big/impressive a club is. FCK is a big German club with a proud tradition. They won the Bundesliga twice in the 90's... they aren't exactly FC Heidenheim. 2. Your logic is because MLS didn't recognize Robles as a prospect that means what? He is doomed to never turn into a respectable professional? Geoff Cameron was picked 42 out of 56... in the 2008 draft. 3. Robles went to Germany worked hard and earned a starting spot for a big club at 24... the goalkeeping situation at the club was uncertain heading into the new season (09/10)... Robles was one of three keepers with the chance to nail down that spot... he went to the 09 GC which pretty much (from what I remember) torpedoed his chances to earn the starting spot with FCK after missing almost the entire pre-season. 4. Chances like those ^ can very well be career defining... We will never know. 5. Robles proceeded to play in the 2nd Bundesliga and had some injuries and came back to MLS. His career is a pretty big "what could have been" 6. Nobody is going to argue current Robles is better than Horvath or has more potential. However saying, "I saw Robles play in MLS at 32 and can definitely say 2009 Robles wasn't anywhere near as good as 2017 Horvath" is nonsense. You never saw him. Looking at Robles MLS career and then comparing him to 2017 Horvath is not the fair/appropriate way to look at this situation. Comparing 09 Robles and 2017 Horvath is the way to do it. In no way is Horvath "several classes" higher. If the USMNT currently had a 24 year old who just got off a season of breaking into FCK's first team and current Horvath I doubt people on here would be saying Horvath is "several classes" above that player.
If anyone cares the threads Robles at FCK from here still exist: It's a cautionary tale https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/luis-robles-at-kaiserslautern-2009-2010-r.1057087/page-3
Lol I've been on BS long enough to avoid numbered responses but really briefly... - was just pointing out level of club play. Brugge is rated kinda-similar/kinda-higher than what FCK was, respective to when the gks were there (not when FCK won the Bundesliga when Robles was 14 lol). - Robles wasn't a promising prospect. If he was MLS wouldn't have let him walk so easily. He was a gk working his way up the ladder at a club but never made the top. Tons of gks fit that profile. - If anything ruined his chances with FCK it was probably his terrible performance in the 09 GC, not showing up late to camp. - Horvath is 22 in a couple weeks, not 24. Robles wasn't playing for a CL team at 22, nor was he ever at any point in his career. Brugge is invested in this kid (TM says $1 mil transfer fee) to a level FCK never was (TM says $0 mil transfer fee). Either way I don't really care. Horvath is at worst playing at an equal level than Robles ever did. Maybe he flames out, who knows, but that's just the reality. Idk why the strong defense for Robles. There are many gks that could use more fans than Robles (i.e nearly any MLS gk from the 90s). Robles is a very well respected gk in MLS. Everyone values him as he should be: a very good MLS gk that will go down as one of the top 15-20 in the league. But Horvath is on a different trajectory.
That's a ridiculous set of presumptions, perfectly befitting of you. As to Robles, if the guy let missing a couple of weeks of training wreck him and his career path, then he's worse than I suggested.
At the time, Kaiserslautern had a couple of younger German GK prospects who they prioritized. 2007/08: Florian Fromlowitz started until he suffered a knee injury in October. 19 year old Tobias Sippel took over. Fromlowitz left after the season. 2008/09: Sippel started at the beginning of the year, but broke his arm. Robles took over. Sippel returned to the bench and then eventually to the starting lineup. Robles ended up starting the last four games of the season after Sippel got hurt again. 2009/10: Healthy again, Sippel started the whole season except for one game given to Robles at the end of the season. Robles leaves for Karlsruhe. 2010/11: Sippel loses his job towards the end of the season to the younger and better Kevin Trapp I think Sippel and Trapp were always viewed as the real long-term options and Robles was only given opportunities when Sippel was injured and Trapp was still too young.
The point is that Robles was breaking through as a young keeper, in a club with a lot of competition. He had made a few starts, I believe, but didn't lock down the starting spot. Going away with the US and missing preseason definitely prevented him from competing with the other keepers (one of whom was Tobias Sippel and the other was Kevin Trapp). Horvath is a young keeper who made a few starts but hasn't locked down a starting spot. Right now Brugge doesn't have amazing competition for him, but as rumored could go for some other fairly established keepers in the transfer window. In that case, their situations will be extremely similar.
Fully buy all of that, but I think Ethan can hold onto his spot. I suspect the club, while not going to just hand him anything, sees him doing so as well. Btw, for anyone who may care, I didn't really mean to knock Robles. I actually really like him and his tough as nails attitude. I was just implying that he's found his level, i.e., one of the better keepers in MLS. No shame in that. Ethan, for me, is in contention for the best keeper in the US pool. It's between Howard and him, and I'd like for there to be a real competition for the spot in 2018. It's a bit of a catch 22, of course, because Ethan has to get national team matches and lock down a starter role. One may decrease the chances of the other. But if he wants to go for both, as I would bet an ambitious young player would, his most obvious option is probably taking his chances playing in the Gold Cup. Now, if BA calls him for GC and runs out Rimando (or Robles or similar), then that's a real issue to me. I hope The Bruce wouldn't do that, but I'm not at all 100% sure he won't. Being a BS poster is hard, creating and solving hypothetical conundrums all the time, knowing what's best for every player, trying to overcome autocorrect. The players themselves have it easy in comparison.
Agreed, I do think Horvath has a chance to bypass Howard and Guzan for starting in 2018. He is on the way up, and they are on the way down. Starting in GC and doing well would be a great way of doing that. However, I think the best way would be to become a 100% starter for Brugge and playing well in UEFA CL.
I'm pretty sure Horvath must realize getting the latter is the only way to achieve the former. Starting in the GC is too much of a risk (IMO) since it's really just a B squad that even Bingham could be no1 for and not really aide his efforts with thE NT.
You have absolutely no context for saying Horvath is "several classes" above where Robles was at this same time in his career. What exactly makes you say that? It's pure speech out of your rear end dude. People who were very knowledgeable and well placed posted lots about the situation. He was very highly rated by many in Germany but winning a starting GK position in the Bundesliga or even the 2nd Bundesliga for a club like FCK is no easy thing to do. No guarantee at all Horvath would be doing it right now. Here: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/luis-robles-at-kaiserslautern-2009-2010-r.1057087/page-3 It would take 15 minutes Him missing the 09 pre-season after winning the starting spot (Sippel being perfectly healthy for much of the season) with a new coach coming in was a pivotal point in his career. Real life is not a video game. Circumstances in your career can have a big impact. You won't always realize your potential if opportunities are missed.
1. There is a little more nuance to life than looking at whatever rating system your looking at and determining which club is bigger. I'm pointing out FCK won the Bundesliga 2x in the 90's to show you FCK is a big time club with a big time history tradition. They have been a yo-yo club between the 1st and 2nd bundesliga for a while now but they are big deal in Germany. 2. Robles very much was a promising prospect. Read the threads about him which has analysis from posters who paid very close attention to the situation. 3. You can't assume Robles ever wanted to play in MLS. Players around that time (Charlie Davies) chose not to sign with MLS. Speculation in one of the Robles threads was that Robles was picked so late because everyone knew he was going to Europe. (Throws a wrench in your theory doesn't it?) 4. The idea that FCK based their goalkeeping future off of Robles one bad national team appearance is a complete joke. 5. 22/24 are both young GK prospects... not really much difference there. 6. Like I said, life is more nuanced than "omg Brugges is in the CL they are so much bigger better than FCK" - no, FCK is a big time German club with a big time tradition who regularly competes in the Bundesliga. They aren't nearly the step down (if they are at all) you are making them out to be because Brugge is a CL side from a 2nd rate league. 7. The defense of Robles comes from ignorant comments about him.
Dude, I said several classes. Based on their current roles, there is definitely a gap. Call it one class. I wasn't implying anything other than Ethan is better and playing at a higher level. As you say, it could have been different. In a parallel universe, it probably is. In this one, what I said is generally true, even if the terminology doesn't meet your specificity standards. I definitely appreciate the reminder that about what is and is not a video game. Definitely took me a while to get over the fact that I hadn't been scoring for fun against the best players in the world in real life. But I'm okay now, and better for it.
Yes and no... with Horvath's 5+ inch height advantage, early professional experience and ynt games seems to put him a level or a few above Robles at 22 and most likely more prepared for an opportunity at 24. At 22: Horvath has almost 60ish professional games... the majority in in the Tippligaen with a handful in the Europa league and Belgian first division. He was selected for the u20 WC but not released and chosen as the starter on the u23 team ahead the two previous u20 starters including Steffen who is considered by many to be the top US goalkeeping prospect since Howard. He has debuted for the USMNT in a friendly and called up for Hex camp. Robles played at university of Portland and some u23 USL team. At 24: Horvath... ??? Robles is still 5 months from his Bundesliga debut and over a year from his one USMNT cap.
Glad he got the call-up. He now knows where he stands with the NT. He's def going to Russia. Just unsure if it's no2 or no3 Heck might have a shot at no1 (if he has the best club season ever)
If he can claim a starting spot this upcoming season, we might finally have a true challenger to Howard.
Club Brugge have signed 6-foot-6 23-yo GK Guillaume Hubert from Standard Liege, who seems to have fairly significant Jupiler League starting experience for his age, though this article claims the move happened in part because Hubert didn't convince Standard to be their starter moving forward. http://www.lavenir.net/cnt/dmf20170616_01019762/guillaume-hubert-s-engage-a-bruges
Looks like the guy who was ahead of Horvath might be getting moved on. http://www.voetbalbelgie.be/nl/article.php?id=124218
They basically gave Horvath the keys near the end of the season. He got the start in some important games over Butelle.
Yeah after they gave him the league playoffs starts I figured they were implying he was going to be the likely No. 1 for 17/18
Starts in friendly: De 1ste helft is met deze XI: Horvath - Palacios, Poulain, Denswil, De Bock - Simons, Vormer, Vanaken - Acolatse, Vossen, Dennis #OleClu— Club Brugge KV (@ClubBrugge) July 5, 2017
First on the plate for him are the UEFA Champions League qualifiers to take place in late July and early August. The draw for the third qualifying round is on July 14.