Besides, Bill Hamid probably will be playing at a top level for years to come. He is D.C. United's anchor and should be for at least a dozen to 15 years to come.
from what I can tell, this year with Hamid (W-D-L) 2-5-2 (1.22 ppg) without Hamid 3-6*-7 (.94 ppg) since starting May 27 after his early-season injury absence, he has failed to start 2 games, one of which was an Open Cup game. Last year he played in 31 games (Boswell played 36 in comparison) and was MLS Goalkeeper of the year. *US Open Cup loss on PK's counted as a draw
I just watched a piece where Landon Donovan interviewed Joe Cannon, Kasey Keller and Kevin Hartman. They were asked who they thought are the best keepers in MLS. Not one mention of Hamid. They cited Rimando, Blake, Ousted, Frei, Robles, even Brian Rowe was named by Cannon and Hartman. What am I missing here?
A vested interest? Some would want to tout old school, some would want to tout potential. Few are willing to tout the guy that would make everyone forget about the person doing the touting.
No one can forget Kasey Keller, everyone has already forgotten Kevin Hartman and Joe Bazooka. Okay, we would have forgotten Kevin Hartman if not for that loop playing through all our heads daily of Roy Lassiter and Ben Olsen making him their bitch in MLS Cup '99. It does seem very odd none mentioned Hamid - an astute interviewer might have asked why the 2014 GKOY was not brought up ... then again Robles won it in 2015 that certainly doesn't make him an elite GK
Hamid has also been injured quite a bit over the past few years. Who knows how much they have seen him. But Brian Rowe? Mentioning him as one of the best in MLS makes me doubt the whole interview/their opinions... Of the three, I've only heard Keller be interviewed. I'm not sure he's a great judge of talent. Also, Hartman may have a vested interest in Rowe/LA...?
IMHO Rimando, Blake and Ousted are all outstanding although I would take Hamid over any of them in a heartbeat. I suppose Howard should be in the discussion too. Frei and Robles fall somewhere in the middle below Bingham, Bush and Johnson. Rowe is close to the bottom and would be a third-stringer on Houston, Colorado or Portland.
Since when is Hartman is considered an expert on GK talent? Isn't he the Galaxy rube who got scored on when Mario Gori (?) took the ball off his feet in the goal mouth.
I somehow saw this thread just now for the first time. Of all the players we've had under Bruce Arena, I would add very few to his rosters. Bill Hamid and Christian Gomez are tops on the list. Hamid hasn't lived up to his initial hype - which I think is a good thing. Otherwise, he'd be in Europe. It allows DCU to keep him for longer. Bill is a guy that gets us points. If you put an attacking team in front of him that plays a high line and plays the off-side trap a lot, he will bail you out. He's a key cog in an attacking team that we've wasted with our tactics. I hope we can hang on to him for his entire career and he will be worth max money.
you think? Over the last 5 years the best GK in MLS, certainly top 3. For the love of me, I can't understand why nobody has come for him from Europe, but his career has at least 10 more years. Not sure, are we still supposed to trade Hamid?
Dear lord my heart skipped a beat when I saw this thread bumped ... But seriously nobody in this business is above being traded or sold. I wouldn't go out of my way to get rid of him, but if a big Euro club came in with a multi million dollar offer it's kind of a no brainer
The injuries, no doubt, have been a factor. Also, since Hamid didn't go to college and came straight out of the D.C. Academy -- so, he has less of a pedigree than most MLS keepers. Even so, he's not a kid anymore and, when healthy, he's a monster between the pipers. It's a mystery. But, Klinsmann doesn't rate him highly and that's probably a good clue about why nobody's come knocking on the door so far for him.
He's as good a goalkeeper as any in the world when it comes to making unbelievable stops. But, he'll let in too many cheap goals for a goalie of high caliber and sometimes just lacks composure back there and panicks in nonpressure situations. Pretty much the reason he's still in MLS.
Does he actually? I know that was the book on him years ago. I'm not sure those are things he does more than any other good (but not world class) goalie. I'll grant that he's been good, but not his best since coming back from his latest injury because I've seen that argument a bit recently. But he's still been good enough to be right there with freaking Ethan Horvath, Yarbrough, and Bingham rather than strangely behind all three on the depth chart. I'd put it on injuries pretty much. He hasn't been able to stay healthy long enough to get NT looks.
Bingham has been better this year in my opinion, he has been quite a revelation lately in how good he is playing after being under the radar for a while. Hamid is still way up there, but he has given up too many soft goals, out of position goals, poor awareness goals to be considered top 5 in the league this year. Not to say other goalies have been perfect, but there are plenty with less mistakes for sure. Health too has been a concern obviously. I wouldn't "trade" him, but if a team came in throwing around serious cash, say in the 5-8 million dollar range and he wanted to go, I don't see how you stand in the way. But no chance anyone in MLS is worth his being traded away. I wouldn't even take Giovinco or Villa for him. Not that that would ever happen, but just saying he's that valuable to us and those guys wouldn't likely change DC's fortunes enough to make up for his loss.
I don't think his distribution is that great, which would work against him in European leagues that play a more possession oriented game. Great shot stopper, for sure.
Frankly, I think it's a black mark on Bill's international rep that he isn't getting regular call-ups to the USMNT.
well, yes, I agree - Unfortunately, most club managers even in Europe probably don't do due diligent scouting of American talent on the club level, and only look at national team games and play-off games. And asking themselves, what the hell are these "Play-Off Games" anyways.
As a non-expert fan I think that evaluating goalkeepers is pretty tough. At the professional level the difference between great, okay and mediocre keepers is pretty small, as evidenced by the frequency with which highly touted keepers change clubs and then don't live up to expectations. Here in DC I believe there's a strong consensus that the number of certain goals that Bill has saved far exceeds the number of goals he has given up that any other keeper on the planet would have saved. If that isn't enough to impress JK or Euro coaches, so much the better for DCU. Let's pay Bill the premium dollars he deserves for his worth to this club, and if an elite euro club is ever willing to handsomely compensate Bill and DCU then congrats to both.
Indeed. I hope that Hamid is the keeper when we eventually win the CONCACAF Champions League and go on to play in the World Club Cup. Hey, it ought to happen within the next dozen to fifteen years or so, right?