In his next appearance, Tim Howard will be the 15th player to reach 100 caps for the USMNT. While USMNT fans fall over themselves arguing whether Friedel or Keller was the best USMNT goalkeeper, the truth is that Howard should now be squarely in that conversation. So congrats to Timmy!!! We love ya!!!
If Howard can play 90 in the three group stage matches, he will pass the trio of Meola, Friedel and Keller in minutes played at the World Cup for US goalkeepers. A 4th match puts him ahead of all 3 in matches played, since it's Meola 7, Friedel 6, Keller 5, Howard 4.
To me he's better than Keller but slightly behind Friedel. A solid WC (a few shutouts or Man of the Matches) should notch him the honor. It's a shame he's underrated outside the USA/England but i guess that's just cause he's not at a CL club where the rest of the world can recognize his talent.
Big congratulations to the guy I think was our 2nd best keeper ever, and certainly the best for us for the longest stretch.
Tim Howard imo the best American goal keeper of all time. He proves it day in & day out in the EPL and for the national team. He saved our a$$e$ a bunch of times and he kept our defense in check. Playing for Man U & Everton both classic clubs in England, he is an inspiration and you cant give nothing but the up-most respect to him as a man and a professional. Congrats to our Casillas, our Kahn, our Buffon, our Lev Yashin.
Yes.....................active leaders under 100: Tim Howard 99 Michael Bradley 85 Jozy Altidore 69 Oguchi Onyewu 69 Eddie Johnson 63 Clarence Goodson 46 Bradley's going to hit the 100 cap mark before the age of 28. And keep in mind Jozy is only 24 and already has 69.
Guzan, if Howard retires, is the only one that is really even foreseeable right now. Given that he needs 75 caps, he would have to be healthy and hold the starting job to about 2020 to do so.
Besler's got a long way to go. Besler is already 27 and only has 16 caps. Even if he gets 8-10 more before his 28th birthday, that leaves about 75 to go. To put this distance into context, Donovan led the US with 56 caps in the 2006 cycle. Bradley led the US with 45 caps in the 2010 cycle. If he stays healthy, Howard will probably end up with between 47 and 51 caps this cycle. So Besler would need to stay healthy and have a starting spot for the US on lockdown for the next 5-6 years. That's less likely than Guzan, IMO. There is one player, if he hadn't skipped the two-thirds of the entire cycle, that would probably be above 30 already. Tim Chandler.
Congrats Timmy. Your form at Everton this year has been stellar, can't wait to watch you at the World Cup.
Hard to predict right now. It should be noted that the USMNT has the most players with 100 caps in World football. If we count Howard: USMNT 15 Egypt 12 Germany (West/East) 10 Mexico 10 Sweden 9 Getting 100 caps is supposed to be a rare occasion. A World Cup winning nation like Uruguay only has 1 100-cap player at the moment. Argentina has 3. Brazil has 4.
Bradley will have it during the Gold Cup while Jozy should have it during Copa America. It's insane how fast they've been gobbling caps.
For me Bradley is as close to a lock for a huge caps number as it gets (barring injury). He seems to be a crucial cog to this team, and frankly I don't see a younger player in his position on the immediate horizon at anything close to his level. [Maybe Will Trapp if he REALLY improves] His performance was stunning against Nigeria yesterday. If he wants to, he should beat Cobi's caps mark. I think Jozy will get there, but I see more competition for his spot post 2014............................ The gap between him and other forwards isn't as large as that between Bradley and other central midfield options.
Even if younger forwards in addition to Johannsson, like say Agudelo and Boyd, get much much better, Jozy will still accumulate caps at a high rate, because Dempsey is also getting old, and others in the forward pool (Wondo, Gomez, etc.) are either nowhere close to him, also getting old, or both.
Big congrats to Tim Howard who I think is the best USMNT keeper ever considering longevity and the the quality of some of the games that he has had for us. What a pleasure it has been to watch him for the last 10 years.
I can't see Jozy not getting to 100 caps. At the very least he just has to continue to play the target man. He has the experience with the team going back nearly 7 years. He's only 24. His rivals all play in lesser leagues. If he gets to be a consistent scorer for Sunderland or another club in a top 5 league, he really will only have injuries to hinder him, not that of his rivals.
Is he coming back or will the Belgium game be his career highlight? Folks ignore that incredible performance against England in 2010. I think he's the only US keeper to keep a cleansheet in the WC and have 2 Man of the Match awards