The best example of the opposite is Brad Friedel. After being rejected for a work permit on 4 separation occasions in the UK (leading to a vagabond existence in Turkey, Sweden, etc.)...........he headed home to the Crew. He didn't head back to England to Liverpool until he was 28. He didn't start his time at Blackburn, which is where his career REALLY took off, until he was nearly 30. That was 2000ish. So almost everything that many fans know of Brad Friedel (2002 WC, etc.) occurred after this 30th birthday. Kasey Keller moved to England at a much earlier age, but the same kind of applies. In his 20s Keller was at Millwall and Leicester in England. The overwhelming majority of those games were unavailable to us in the states. You can't even find many youtube clips of those games. His 30th birthday was in 1999. His highly exposed career in La Liga, Bundesliga, Spurs/Fulham in England..............was all in his 30s. For the 2006 World Cup, he was 37. This may sound unholy. Zack Steffen has accomplished a heck of a lot more in his club career at his 23rd birthday than either Keller or Friedel had. And he has a looooooooooooong career ahead of him. If he doesn't start at a big club right away in Europe, but spends some time learning the ropes at a club like Man City....................that really is OK.
Horvath with his 2nd CL shutout. This time against Dortmund. Can he complete the trifecta at home against Atletico? Tune in 13 days from now.
FT: Sterke teamprestatie van Club deze middag tegen Standard. De eindstand stond al bij de rust op het bord en in de tweede helft kwam Club nooit meer in de problemen. 3-0 #CluSta #BluvnGoan pic.twitter.com/6Jux8Nbqh1— Club Brugge KV (@ClubBrugge) December 2, 2018 Ethan shuts out Standard Liege as Club Brugge win 3-0. Notable because in goal for Standard was Memo Ochoa, who Mexico will continue to likely ride-and-die with for the new cycle.
You've always been the #1 Ethan Horvath fan on this site through thick and thin, and I'm not sure he could have done all this without your faith. Keep up the posts!
Hahahahahah Merci beaucoup. I just felt the kid's performance against Portugal shouldn't have been held over his head and he went through a tough time last season. I'm sure it helped him mentally and he's showing that potential from years ago in Norway. He and Steffen really make me feel secure defensively.
I might be missing your point, but out of all the clubs in the world, man city is probably the last to worry about flipping players for a profit, they have a bottomless pit of money. I was going to bring up your second point, but you beat me to it. Ederson is phenomenal with his feet and distribution from what I have seen, and pep is obsessed with playing out of the back.
I think Steffen's track record has been overblown a fair bit. He hasn't accomplished much more than his predecessors, if at all. - 2015 U20 quarterfinal run - 5-5-4 in Germany's fourth division - 3-3-3 in USL play - 5th place (2017 +4 GD) and 10th place (2018, -2 GD) finish in supporters shield race - 4-3-1 in playoffs with Columbus - 1.36 GAA with the Crew (1.6 average) - 2018 MLS GOTY - 6 caps with USMNT (2-2-2) Howard won GOTY at 22, Friedel at 26 (his only full year in MLS, the league didn't exist when he was 23). Keller had the great 1989 U20 WC run. Howard got to the round of 16 in 1999. Friedel had a fourth place finish with the U23s in the 2000 Olympics, where Howard was backup. All three were successful overseas in early stages of their career, although they would go on to do more later on. Meola/Friedel/Keller were all named All-American goalkeepers from 1988-1992. And don't forget Meola had qualified for a World Cup at this point in Steffen's career. Definitely agree there is a long road ahead of him. I think the move back overseas will be mostly positive, even if he doesn't stick with Man City. He'll go on loan and surely impress some club that will want him for the future. If you want to talk about Steffen's ceiling, that's a different matter. Lots of possible takes there. But Steffen isn't on any real different track than where the other gks.
Here's Horvath's big save against Standard Liege. I'm a Steffen fan, but he has not secured the US #1 by any means. https://streamable.com/0v6z6
Hopefully within a year (or 2 at the latest), Gonzales and Bono can join him abroad. Probably a mid-tier league (Belgium/Portugal/Netherlands) would be fantastic. That way all our GK's are doing it BIG abroad.
Manchester City have all but completed the signing of USA goalkeeper Zack Steffen from Columbus Crew according to reports – but the player himself has stopped short of calling it a done deal. Steffen is said to have been in Manchester to take a medical and sign his contract ahead of a transfer that will cost City an initial £6 million, rising with bonuses. Speaking to ExtraTime Radio, Steffen confirmed that something is happening, but that there are still details to sort. “It’s still up in the air,” Steffen revealed. I’m aware of the reports, but nothing is done and there’s still a lot of things to go through.” The 23-year-old sounded eager to make the move however, speaking of the need to be tested. And battling Ederson for City’s number one role is certainly a test. Steffen said: “I’m at a level where I need to be pushed. The [U.S.] national team, we found a coach and we’re at a time now where our talented youth need to get pushed and go overseas and feel a little bit uncomfortable. I’m feeling this is my time.”
When I have time; I'd like to go through all the pages (and seek out the previous thread). Because I wanna know what happened to the likes of Sean Johnson, Bill Hamid, David Bingham, Cody Cropper. All had potential and a few NT caps or YNT caps and showed something. Hamid should have gone abroad after his Best GK-season. Johnson (I feel has been underrated). Maybe they didn't perform to some degree, but I gotta figure 1 or at least all 4 could have succeeded at some mid-tier European league had they gone a few years ago.
Also I would literally prefer s USMNT goalkeeping upstart starting at Sunderland than bench for man city, but I cannot choice that situation.
Think you may be a bit off here. Guzan should be no more than the #3 come the next qualifying campaign.
This cycle's Rimando, IMO. I expect to see him in the squad through the next WC and he'll probably be on the 2022 WC squad as long as he doesn't lose his starting job in MLS, but probably won't get many more if any caps in competitive games.
Starting in the third division is better than languishing on the bench of a champions league team. Getting Games is what counts. I don’t want Steffen to have the prestige of a bench warner that miiiiight get cup Games
I'm of the belief if he's a regular call-up; Berhalter and others will defer to him when the likes of Steffen and Horvath are ready to prove themselves. Too much reliance on Howard and Guzan in recent years have drastically affected the advancement of younger guys.
Clean sheet vs. Atleti. Ethan Horvath keeps another #UCL clean sheet. 3 saves today, including this one on Antoine Griezmann. pic.twitter.com/cCo1Hwjncv— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) December 11, 2018