Crumbs. Lets see how he does when he has a run of games. I don't think they are going to keep him long to be a back up, given his salary. He'll either be the starter or leave the club, IMO.
^This. I'm sure he'll get more pre-season action. He shouldn't have gotten the winter call-up. Always stay with your club.
That error was as much who he is as it was rust. If you have followed him, you have to know that. And I've been off the Hamid train a long time, you can check my post history. Can ge improve, absolutely. But he hasn't shown me much yet and he is 27, with a bunch of younger keepers. If both keepers make the same mistakes, you always play the younger one. He has longer to fix it. The article in my post breaks down somethings with some good examples or why I have never thought Hamid was consistent enough to be great. The shot versus Orlando was way worse than Lorius Karius. The red card he got for his two foot tackle because he was slow to respond way outside the box(think it was Dallas). He is prone to horrible distribution look at that goal he gave up against the crew. his communication is extremely poor, leading to more errors on crosses and in odd man rushes. And that's off the top of my head. He is just not consistent enough. I'm not saying he is trash, but if Bill Hamid is the answer to our GK position then I believe the US is in trouble at that spot. He is too nervy in the air. He is pretty poor in his technique 1v1. He relies on his athleticism over positioning. He struggles with foot work and reading the ball. Will he make great highlight saves, yes he will. But once in a while he will gift a goal or two in a really bad way or be forced to make a great save because of an error he committed. Cant have that at the NT level. Anyway, just my eval of Hamid. Maybe you see something else and that's fine too.
why should he have gotten more caps? He was often injured, his play for his club has been flat and possibly declining for years, and has never impressed when he has gotten a chance.
I have no idea who thought that was a good idea. Ultimately, it is on Hamid to make the right decision.
he was called in a lot more and had to pull out of camps many times. It has just been poor luck and him not advancing his game. There is nobody else to blame.
I agree. On the one hand, I can see that it keeps him sharp. But on the other; you just joined a new club. An injury in a pointless B-friendly wouldn't have helped things.
At a new team, you get crumbs at first. And if you do well in spot duty, your roll expands. You can't expect to get a few minutes, do poorly and then somehow get an extednded run. And in goal especially, errors need to be few and far between. Multiple, glaring errors in scant minutes is a good way to disappear and never get back on the field. If he's rusty, it's his own fault for not taking his chances. He's a professional. It's his job t be ready to play when called. Lots of guys ride pine for a long time and keep themselves ready to play and take their chances when given.
Just saw this on 3rd Degree's twitter feed and thought I'd throw it into the hopper here to see if it means anything. Jesse Gonzalez has saved 81.3% of the shots he has faced from inside his box, the most among all MLS goalkeepers. Only three other players have a save percentage of at least 70% on similar shots, none more than 76.5%. (Quick reaction saves are JG's best trait!)
It's good to have Gonzalez in the fold, at the very least to keep him away from Mexico. Our current keeper situation isn't ideal but we have much more young talent than Mexico. If I'm not mistaken, they have only three keepers age 30 or under who are currently starters in a professional first division, one of them is another Mexican-American, Richard Sanchez. Gonzalez could well have been their #1 or #2 of the future.
First division professional starters age 25 or under: Steffen, Horvath, Gonzalez, Turner, Miller. Vom Steeg and Marcinkowski may soon be starting in MLS. The NCAA and USL have so many players that perhaps a few additional finds will surface. Turner is an example of that -- never played for USYNTs, worked his way through college and PDL and USL, now doing well starting in MLS at 24. Our situation isn't ideal but I think Mexico's is much worse. For first-division starters age 25 or under, Mexico has just Gibran Lajud of Xolos and then Sanchez of Chicago Fire who could switch to the USMNT. Just those two before diving into the youth national team keepers, which we have more talent at too. Vom Steeg, Marcinkowski, Klinsmann, Silva, Muse, Scott, Lopez, Ejimadu, Garces, Dos Santos, Defreitas-Hansen, Ochoa, Las is really good. Some of Mexico's best current youth keepers, like Romero and Avilez, were previously third-string USYNT keepers who couldn't get playing time for us. So I think the loss of Jesse Gonzalez is pretty bad for Mexico. Their current keepers are very old, Liga MX has many foreign starting keepers, and he may have had the most raw talent of any young keeper they had.
I don't have a high opinion of them. Ochoa has been their top one for years and he hasn't ever been able to play at a higher level than for relegation fodder teams in (admittedly good) European leagues. Gonzalez needs to be more consistent but he has looked very special at times. It was poor roster management of Mexico to not select him for the Gold Cup last year, because frankly, I think he would have opted Mexico over the US if they had done so. It may sound a bit ludicrous but it would not surprise me if the loss of Jesse Gonzalez eventually hurts Mexico more than the loss of Jonathan Gonzalez hurts the US. Mexico's depth of young keepers is very poor compared to ours. Lajud looks to be easily the best young keeper Mexico has, though he is still not proven. If he really pans out well and becomes their firm #1 and can stay fully healthy, then they will be mostly fine. If he doesn't really pan out, then they are in trouble. Sanchez right now is basically their future #2 and he has not been great in MLS, and he could even flip if the US want to invite him to January camp.
He still has work to do, but it isnt close at this point. Hopefully, he can figure out a move abroad this summer or after the season. He wanted to come home a couple of years ago and it has served him well, but needs to be playing at a higher level.
I'm trying to think -- when was the last time we saw a performance better than Steffen's from a USMNT keeper? Howard vs. Belgium in 2014? Maybe Guzan in one of the 2016 Copa matches? This was no ordinary friendly, from the world-class players he faced, to a stadium environment far more raucous than the Ireland one.
Steffen, get it, got it, good. Hope he did good enough to get a few scouts to watch the tape. Now we find the depth. Rooting for Jesse Gonzalez to put on a good show for FC Dallas. Dude's got the capacity to make it competitive eventually. But right now the debate ends, this is currently Steffen's car to drive