I see alot of people on this site are penciling in Tim Howard to start for the US for 2006 World Cup. I hope he is starting for Man United and playing with alot more confidence then he is now. Because vs Poland he made a blunder and during this campaign for Man U he has made mistake after mistake. I would not want somebody that is mistake prone to start between the sticks during the World Cup. Let's hope he steps up to the plate and regains his confidence because we all know he has the talent.
I just get the feeling, maybe overly optimistically, that he'll get one more chance there with a fully fit defense in front of him. He played very well when he had that, and SAF has praised him plenty. Yes, there appear to be holes in his game that he needs to work out, but if he is the hard-working type I believe him to be, he's not just sitting around feeling sorry for himself. Roy Carroll is almost certainly not staying beyond this season. I think that at worst, he'll get a spot at another Premiership club. I don't see him falling out of the USA depth chart anytime soon though, especially if Friedel does indeed move on.
I'm not terribly worried about Tim Howard. I think he hit a rough patch but will come good again. I feel he'll get another shot, and if not with United this year, I think he moves on and gets a starting job somewhere else. He's not too far removed from being named one of the best keepers in the Premier League last year. That defense (if you can call it that) without Rio and the other injuries, was abysmal at ManU. Silvestre in particular was horrid without Rio.