Let the battles begin! www.espn.com/soccer/united-states/story/3731461/columbus-goalkeeper-zack-steffen-named-usmnt-player-of-the-year
I’m glad to see some competition between the two. I’m leaning towards Steffen for now but it’s not a lock yet.
While my bet is on Steffan, I look forward to a healthy competition between the two, and may the best GK win.
A national team needs at least two great keepers. What happens if you only have one and they get injured? Always good to push each other also.
I think Horvath, when he's on a roll, is the top GK. Horvath had a tough year last year, and Steffen had a down year this year. Once Horvath stops falling apart when he concedes and learns how to be assertive on crosses, I think he'll take the #1 spot. Steffen looks like he's more of a leader though. He got a ton of the player vote for GK of the year, so I believe his peers were likely complementary of his leadership. That probably makes him #1 for now, particularly on a young team. Horvath, by contrast, is polite and soft-spoken a Midwestern "golly-gee" kinda guy. Course, he's got some steel behind him, having taken back the starting role at Brugge. I'm glad we're talking about two 23-year-olds instead of deciding between a past-his-prime legend in Howard, or a younger, out-of-form Guzan.
No idea. I didn't know we had a national soccer team until I got my first FIFA game at age 10 in 2003. And I wasn't a soccer fan till the 2009 Confed Cup, so my memories consist of Howard and fuzzy replays of random seminal US games before then. There's a thread with an archive of USMNT games somewhere on here.
I'm just glad we have some actual international caliber GK's again. Since Timmy started to tail off we've been without any clarity on who is the real deal. Horvath has showed with his play on the field recently his class and even if Man City only wants him for his potential future transfer fee, Steffen has proven his worth to them. So with each of them pushing each other, I think we are hopefully set in the GK department for the coming cycle.
I think their both good and both unfinished products. They will both vault past each other for years based on form, teams, confidence and health. A good situation to have and a big improvement over a year ago.
Agree, although I wouldn't be surprised or upset if he remains in the squad in the Rimando role through the next WC though. Although, it would also be nice to test guys like Bono, Hamid, and Gonzalez at the international level in case of injury to Steffen/Horvath (or even to see if one of them can step up and challenge those two). Maybe use those guys in the MLS-heavy camps and save Guzan (even though he's an MLS player) as the #3 for the full squad camps.
Steffen reminds me a lot of a young Friedel. I like them both, gun to head if we had a WCQ tomorrow I'd go with Zach, but you need at least two solid GKs at this level. Horvath's reemergence is undoubtedly a very promising development (and that's coming from someone who had almost written him off).
But how can you write off players so early in a position where they often peak in their 30’s? The rules that apply to field players don’t apply to the GK position as it’s a position primarily of experience.
Seeing as they are planning on loaning him out when their n2 Bravo is out injured for the rest of the year... I’d wager no.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Steffen get the lion’s share of matches to help him get eligible over the half a year.
Which would be foolish. And honestly his relationship with Greg worries me (same with Zardes). He needs to earn them... if Horvath is in better form he should play. This needs to be a knife fight for PT. May the best man win.
I hear you, and a lot I do agree with, but if I were Gregg I’d stick with Steffen for two main reasons through the Gold Cup. #1 Steffen has started to develop some familiarity with the USMNT defense and there’s no real reason to upset that balance. Plus, Steffen getting minutes is going to help his professional development; at least until he transfers them the balance of power may shift. #2 Ethan Horvath is currently in the situation that Steffen will be in 6 months, a fragile situation where he still needs to prove himself to truly solidify his standing. I’m not saying don’t ever call him in, but it makes strategic sense unless it’s absolutely necessary to let him settle where he’s at. That said, I think his time will come on the back half of 2019. Moreover, I still see him called up for the Gold Cup.
#1 If Horvath is better he should play. The balance is a bad argument. This is international. Players have injuries or form changes or several reason why it won’t be a regular 11. Not to mention their use to playing with different players from club to nats. If they can’t adjust they shouldn’t be playing. As for professional development, that time is over. The free year is gone. Games are going to start to matter. The best player for the system needs to play. #2 I understand your point and that may happen to Steffen and if it does he will have to deal with the adversity and if he can’t he isn’t good enough. If Horvath failed and went down to a lower level, he’d have shown to be nothing more than just another keeper who might flash based on form. Sometimes you give them chances if the games don’t matter and you don’t have a clear cut. The games will matter now and we have a battle for 1. Steffen will need to show he’s better and push himself. He had a good year but still has flaws. Will he improve or struggle. Either way, now he will have produce club if he wants to continue to play for club. Games matter now. We had a chance to experiment and wasted it. GK is the best player in form. Anything else is dangerous... T&T showed that.