Despite Saturday's match, I had this questions about Cannon: What's his outlook for the Nats? Maybe I'm too much of a homer on the instance, but I haven't heard his name tossed around that much. Seems like Howard has been annointed. Thornton's been mentioned. haven't heard Cannon's name. All quality keepers, but will Cannon get a shot? Has he already got his shot? Is he destined to be a great MLS keeper, but have a limited international future? Looking for expert opinion. Okay, I'm just looking for any opinion. Thanks (sorry if this has already been discussed ....)
Well, I know that Joe is very determined to get to the National level...I heard that Bruce was supposed to take a look at Joe for the World Cup, but never got around to doing it(or something like that) Anyone out there know more than me...please tell and do correct me if anything I said was wrong
Goalies standing in Joe's way: Keller Friedel (both of whom still have many good years left in "goalie" time) Meola Thornton Howard Joe "hands of stone" Cannon needs to improve his distribution and footwork as well.
Richter Boy had good points on footwork and distribution. Cannon will probably get a chance, but he nees to improve his consistency right now if he wants to get the opportunity. He's going to have less of a chance of Howard, so he'll need to make the most of it. Howard is the top prospect as it is right now. Rimando was getting his name tossed around last year, but that has dropped with how bad DCU has been doing. DJ Countess of Dallas might become a prospect in a year or two. He played in one game this year, saving 6 of 7 shots ending in a 1-1 tie against Kansas on July 6th. I pulled this from the Dallas website:
Joe is great for us, but I don't want to see him for the Nats until he can come out with confidence to a cross or a corner---I know he gets razzed a lot for his distribution (which has made some inprovement) and for his footwork, but to me the real times I'm scared are when he comes for a corner or cross and just ends up empty-handed...any decent International striker is going to exploit that all day long, as would most good defenders who come forward. To me his sweeper-keeper skills are great, he's fearless and quick to the ball, but it's the more traditional "line-keeper" stuff that he really lacks---and with the over-abundance of good American keepers Joe would have to really improve a whole lot to really get some consideration.
Used to watch Joe in San Diego ... when he played for the Flash (in the A-League). He has improved greatly, but still does need to work on a couple areas that have been mentioned, namely his distribution and his concentration in "traffic." I still cringe when the Quakes give up a corner, as each one becomes an adventure for the defense. As for being a pure shot-stopper, his skills are tremendous. If he can hone some of the "smaller" skills, he has a great chance of getting a look on the international stage.
another dark horse in the Nat's GK pool is Jonny Walker (how awesoem would it be to have a Gk named after "dear old grandad"), playing in Chile with Catholica....
The previous post made a great point in their last statement. Yeah, idiot, I know nothing about American soccer. And you cannot grasp the difficult concept of big soccer posting.
Great reply Richter Boy...perhaps you could answer on the merits rather than resort to second-grade "told-you-so" type responses. I think you get my point, now I'm just waiting to hear you say something substantive.