Friedel is better with his feet, better distributor, and overall more technically sound, but Keller has better reflexes, is better at handling crosses and blocking shots. They are really close. Friedel is physically stronger. I think that helped him with longevity.
Huh...I'd buy Keller as the best, even if he never had a standout WC performance. I've felt that it was really hard to pick between Keller, Friedel, and Howard. You can't really go wrong with any of those 3. Which leads me to be somewhat dubious about putting Howard at #6. I never saw Rigby or Mauser play, but I think Howard was better than Meola. I'm not a connoisseur of goaltending technique, per se, but Meola always struck me as a guy who didn't really have a nuanced technique or feel for the game. He was just super athletic and got by on reflexes and good instincts.
Keller, Howard, and Freidel were all great keepers. But Kasey and Timmy are my guys. They had the "it' factor. And routinely made the impossible key save.
I can see Keller over Friedel, close enough to go either way. But, Meola over Howard is absurd. Meola couldn't make it at lower levels in England while Howard was locked in for nearly a decade at Everton after a mixed run with Manchester United. I don't rank him over Friedel and Keller, but he has a solid argument to be considered in that company. Meola was very good for the time, super athletic and a good shot stopper, but he never had an all around game to make it at higher levels. Nice to see some props to the old NASL guys. There were many forgotten players in that league that were very good.
Friedel had 6 WC matches. Like 2 of them he was highly rated for. Keller had 5 WC matches. But he also had that Gold Cup match against Brazil. Career wise, Friedel has him, though Keller did play in La Liga and Bundesliga as well as several teams in the PL. Good debate. But Howard blows them both away IMO.But I've only been following the NT since '07 so I'm biased.
My reaction, Keller had the best hands of any U.S. GK I've seen. He caught everything, didn't give up rebounds. Friedel was so big and had such good reactions that he never "guessed." You never saw Friedel move (other than cutting down the angle) before the shot. Ever. Howard, on the other hand, guesses a lot. His positioning is good, and his reach is awesome, so sometimes those guesses and reach lead to great saves. Also, of these three, Howard was the best distributor (not just because of 2002). Hanneman, to me, was like Timmy lite. Very good positioning, great reach. He's probably a guy that could have accomplished a lot more, if he'd been given a chance. A guy where his pro record is not fully reflective of his ability. Guzan I haven't seen play enough to comment. Though, it seems like he really emphasized distribution, and it seems like he was Friedel-like in holding his ground. JMO, from my faulty memory, and I've never coached keepers, so TIFWIW.
I use this test: all or nothing game. Penalty kick. One goal keeper? Easy for me. Has to be the Teuton. Friedel. Kasey was brilliant. So was Howard. But if you have to make the call. I go with the longest arms.
Yeah. We have talked years about who is the best between Keller and Friedel, but at the end of the day, they are the top 2 with everyone else behind them. I will Meola had one of the best seasons every in the year KC won the MLS Cup (2000? - too lazy to go look). To me, Meola was very similar to Howard in making great saves, but also, they would make some mental errors. Howard is still better due to distribution and playing at a higher level. Agree with Hannaman being in the top five. Good article.
I didn't see Meola at his prime but was he really that good during his time as no.1 in the World Cup or were there no real options to challenge him? I keep hearing in 2000 he was the MVP, which is rare for a goalkeeper. Maybe I'm a Eurosnob, but why didn't he feature abroad? Especially after 1994, he was the no.1 and he had an Italian passport I believe.
Here's my recollection. You will find it hard to believe. After '94, Meola quit soccer and tried out (and didn't make it) for the NFL as a place kicker. He said something like (not exact quote) "I'm tired of swimming upstream. Football is the sport in this country. I'm quitting soccer to become a place kicker in the NFL." As far as why he didn't go Euro, that was a way different time. No Americans played in Europe. Well, ok, Tab "if you want to play for Mexico, play for Mexico" Ramos was playing like 2nd division in Spain? Waldo played a little in Germany. Caligiuri played a little in Germany? That was it. There was no one trying to sign U.S. players. Lalas did one year it Italy after the WC. It was a huge leap to go to Europe. Plus, if I recall correctly (and I may not) Meola let in a near post goal in the '94 WC and got roasted for it. Every person that felt that they were knowledgeable criticized Meola as (the ultimate soccer insult) "naive" for letting something in near post. So, Tony bailed on soccer for a while. I don't remember when he came back. Probably for the start of MLS.
My timeline could be off, but sometime after the '94 World Cup, Tony Meola thought he'd give the NFL and acting a try, which questioned his commitment to high-level professional soccer. Bora M. never called him up again and he was out of the USMNT picture during the entire Steve Sampson era from 95-98 (when Keller and Friedel dominated the GK spot). Meola wasn't recalled to the national team until 2000 during his MLS MVP season by Bruce Arena, and he made the World Cup roster in 2002 as our #3 guy as a steady veteran presence (I believe some thought that a young Tim Howard may have deserved the spot ahead of Meola based purely on ability at that point). I loved Tony Meola, but in my opinion he was well behind Howard, Friedel and Keller in terms of ability and national team accomplishments. Of course, I didn't watch the US at all before '94 and I know Meola earned a lot of his caps in the early 90s.
I do think Keller is somewhat undervalued because his peak occurred before we could actually see it. His "peak" of late 20's was at Leicester. He left Leicester for Rayo Vallecano when he was 30. Nobody saw those games. Its hard to even find youtube montages, etc. of Kasey's time at Leicester. If you only know Keller from his time in the Bundesliga with Gladbach or in England with Spurs/Fulham.......................then you missed his prime in club football. When Keller started in the nets for the USMNT at the 2006WC, he was already 37 years old. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay past his prime. So if your memory of Keller is from around that time or after..................you were late to the party. Friedel didn't start at Blackburn until the year 2000.................by then Kasey Keller had played over 250 games in England for Millwall and Leicester. [Freidel had been denied a work permit on 4 different occasions in England, leading to a bit of a vagabond existence until he finally got one with Liverpool. And he was originally denied one, and got it on appeal. He rarely played at Liverpool. It wasn't until he moved to Blackburn as a ~30 year old that his career really took off.] Their primes didn't really overlap. So youngish fans only really know the declining Keller and the stalwart Friedel. Its kinda like how the primes of Donovan and Dempsey for the USMNT didn't overlap. It wasn't until Donovan was fading away that Dempsey really stepped up. Even though they're roughly the same age...................
He had a short stint in England but then had work permit issues. As a fan of goalkeepers, I’d suggest doing a little research on Tony. He did some very remarkable things at a young age. He was an incredible athlete... I vaguely recall being recruited for baseball and played forward in high school. He was incredibly confident, which is a big asset as a GK, but have heard stories that it went pretty far beyond just being confident. I’d bet that the only thing that got between Tony achieving more was Tony. Meola stepped into WCQ in 1989 as a 20 yo sophomore at UVA while the incumbent David “Rolly Polly” Vanole was at odds with the Fed. His performances were amazing for his age and lack of experience. I had heard rumors about how he though the 1990 WC was going to launch his career, but he (we) got lit up in Italy as we were completely outmatched. The worst of it was the 5-1 loss to Chechoslovakia. He showed lots of potential but still needed a lot of experience. Near post goal at 6:27...
Kasey was my favorite going into and coming out of the 2002 WC. After the Portugal game, I was wondering why he wasn’t starting against Korea and then Poland. Friedel and he had split time up until then and Arena never made clear publicly that Freidel would be the #1 at the WC and didn’t think he had done anything to win that position. I have no idea, but would guess that it was a decision by default that was made after the Portugal game to not change anything. I believe there is a clear top 3 (Meola is #4 and then everybody else for me) and none of them has a clear argument to be ahead of the other two. My personal order if I was picking at their primes would be Keller, Howard, Freidel. The decision is based primarily on style. Keller was technically sound, consistent and always seemed the calmest. Freidel was not strong coming off his line and always struggled to understand as he is the tallest 6’4” person I have ever met. Of our current youngsters, Steffen is my current favorite as he reminds me a lot of Keller but with Howard’s physical tools. Here here is a video about Keller prior to the 2002 WC.
By the way, Kasey was very frustrated about not playing in that 2002WC. We look at this very different nowadays. Its important to remind ourselves that up until 2002, Keller had the better resume for both the USMNT and in club football. And it wasn't particularly close. Arena saw that Friedel was the "hot hand" and so stuck with him. Everybody was happy with that decision as it was the right one...........except for Keller. And that's fine. Every professional should want to be in the starting lineup. He wasn't happy, but didn't let it effect the team. Keller Isn't Playing, and He's Not Happy About It http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/s...sn-t-playing-and-he-s-not-happy-about-it.html
As I wrote, I wasn’t happy with the decision and know of others who were not as well. I believe Freidel’s Performance in 2002 was over rated and ignored mistakes he made. He gave up 6 goals in the group phase which was tied for 26th (w/ Paraguay and Costa Rica) with China, Poland, Slovenia and Saudia Arabia being the only that conceded more than 6.
Friedel, and it's not as close as people think. Keller never won a game at the WC. Friedel had key saves during our fantastic run in 2002. Lastly:
That is pretty silly way to judge a goalkeeper. I don’t recall Freidel doing anything in the two WC games that he happened to be on the field when we won. Showing a mistake of one of the other guys doesn’t make him better. I do recall him back pedaling to his line instead of taking a step forward catching or punching the free kick that led to Korea’s goal. I also remember him calling all his defenders off, strolling out to the loose ball, and then watching polish attacker bash the ball by him for their first goal. Finally, he stayed on his line for another header inside the 6 for Poland’s third. At least against Poland, the ball was driven in and the attacker was taller than 6 feet. The Korean free kick was lofted in and he could have easily one over that Korean speed skater. It’s nice to have a couple of PK saves, but it is less exciting if they happen in games where the GK could have prevented a goal or two prior to that. As I said before, all three guys of good arguments for being top three but no clear argument to be better than the other two.
I probably saw a large portion of Keller's 125 games for Leicester. Certainly most, if not all, of the home ones. He was always a very good shot stopper but wasn't the best on crosses. Was prone to a huge error occasionally as well. In the League Cup final replay in 97 he made a huge save just after Claridge scored the only goal. Certainly a crowd favourite at Leicester but not sure if he would make it into the best 3 Leicester keepers of the last 25 years or so. Random piece of trivia. Keller conceded the last competitive goal at Filbert Street whilst he was at Tottingham
How good was Keller at Leicester and Rayo Vallecano? Also Millwall. Literally one like 2 sentences written about it on his wikipedia page.
Kinda funny considering he seemed to be ranked among the top keepers after that tournament (well considering he wasn't at a big club).