stars for arguably the 2nd/3rd biggest club in Norway. Eventually in a year or 2 he's def moving to a bigger league, whether that's Belgium or the Netherlands or 2 Bundesliga/Championship, who knows. But he's only 21 and he seems to have gotten lots of press and credit for his performances in the Europa League last year. how does he compare to Hamid, MacMath, Bingham, Cropper, Steffen? what do you think about him? is he a legit lock to make the WC squad? is he the future no1 for the NT or do you think that's Hamid or Steffen?
I think he is a lock for the 22 WC but will be tough to start in 2018. Lots of names in the hat. But he's significantly ahead of his age group and catching up quickly on the mid/late 20 year olds. Compare him to any other American goalkeeper at this age and he's in the top group. I don't know about "elite" but he's got the most promising future of any gk in the bunch.
Watching him with the youth teams, he is fantastic. I think his role will be #2/#3 behind Bill Hamid (assuming he can stay healthy) in '22. Hamid is still a ridiculously good shot stopper and has more experience. Stefan Frei was impressive in the time I have watched him as well.
"Horvath" is a very common Hungarian name. Horvath actually means Croat [Hrvat] in Hungarian. How far removed is he from his Hungarian or Croatian roots? If he has an EU passport and he performs well, he would be on the radar of other EU clubs.
I think Horvath had been inconsistent with his club but I'm not sure if that's improved over the past few months.
Playing in a 5th-tier league such as the Norwegian league, the rest of Europe may not be aware of someone's talents. If he can perform well and get a transfer to at least a 3rd-tier league [Ned, Bel, Sui, or Tur], he may be able to increase his visibility and play against stronger teams. Isn't that what Jurgen wants? A 3rd-tier league also gets 2 CL berths and 4 EL berths, unlike Norwegian league that only gets 1 and 3, respectively.
Is Norway really 5th tier? For me 1st tier is Eng,Spa,Ger,Italy,Port,France 2nd tier being Russia,Belgium,Turkey,Ukraine,Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece 3rd tier being the 2nd divisions of the top 3 leagues while also being leagues in Scandinavia, Scotland At least thats how I always saw it 4th tier would probably be Eastern European leagues
anyone watch or follow the Norwegian league enough to critique Horvath's performances or how he's rated in that division?
I look at it based on the UEFA coefficient. Here's the link: http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/access2016.html I looked at the top league of the country. As to your point though, the Championship may be better than the NOR league, but I really don't know. Now that I think about it, neither SUI or TUR are EU countries, so an EU player may not be able to play right away in those leagues. So I guess if he were to break through in at least a 3rd-tier league, it would have to be NED or BEL. Of course it would be better if he could get to a 2nd-tier league [ITA, POR, FRA], or just break through one of the top three. I just recalled that Howard actually had a Hungarian passport - courtesy of his mom who was from the old country. One game the Metros played against MUFC, SAF saw him, a million dollars and a month later, he was starting day 1 at Old Trafford. IMO, Horvath just needs the access and visibility of playing in and against at least a 3rd-tier league can provide. Just like Howard, he can be a rags-to-riches story
I appreciate your post though calling France and Portugal, especially Italy, 2nd tier leagues seems quite scandalous. Pay in Serie A isn't far off from that in Spain and Germany nor is the talent or level of play. I'd figure a tier would be something noticeable like from La Liga to the Eredivisie. I def agree. Horvath needs to take his chance when he gets it. Hopefully he gets interest from say Belgium or Netherlands or perhaps smaller club in Germany willing to take a chance on him
So when Horvath presumably makes his USMNT debut in the upcoming friendlies, he'll be about 21 1/3 years old. Keller made his debut in Feb 1990 at about 20 yo, Friedel in Sept 1992 at about 21 1/3 yo, Guzan in Feb 2006 at about 21 1/2 yo, Hahnemann in Nov 1994 at about 22 1/2 yo, Howard in Mar 2002 at about 23 yo (Howard's debut being particularly impressive, competing with Keller and Friedel). All of those five went on to have somewhat distinguished goalkeeping careers in the EPL. Horvath, Keller, Friedel, Howard, and Guzan are also the only American keepers ever to play in the Europa League group stage (in 06-07 with Reading, Hahnemann barely missed out on a European qualifying spot for 07-08, otherwise he could be on the list too). All good signs for Horvath.
It was also a good lesson on the importance of experience. Tony was incredibly talented but understandably very raw. That became very apparent at the WC. His play in qualifying was amazing when you consider his lack of experience.
do you recall (or anyone else) if he got any media attention in Europe due to his young age and rawness as a player. I believe many of the team were ex-college players or semi pros. Must have seemed interesting to other nations at the WC
Maybe Serie A was a second tier league for the year of 2013. Not anymore, there are now clubs spending, and if AC/Inter ever figure out their ****, they can join Napoli/Roma and obviously Juve, and make some noise in Europe