Howard 'considering retirement from the national team'

Yikes.

 

How is Bocanegra considering it? Jeez Carlos, you gotta know your time is up.

 

pays the bills

 

It's okay.. we can talk Friedel out of retirement now.. He'll only be what, like 42?

 

4 years of trans-atlantic flights including to places like Saprissa, T&T, ES, etc., starts to take a toll as you get up in years. I can imagine those 8 and 10 hr flights aren't looking very attractive when you are in your 30's and fighting to preserve your spot on a team where you earn your livelihood. On top of that, asking players who are gutted and being criticized after all the work they put into this if they are ready to sign on for another 4 years is probably not going to get a favorable response.

 

I don't know about Boca's, but I motion for your time being up.

 

It's scary in the present but probably makes sense further down the line. Guzan should be ready to step in for 2014.

 

count me as disappointed. With his superb athleticism, Howard could easily be the keeper for the next 2 World Cups. We could do some seriously (good) damage in that period- have our best team showing ever.

That Howard is lacking that 'fire in the belly' for the jersey......That's disappointing to me. I personally would like to see players who want the jersey ripped off of them (when playing for country). Its such a high honor. Maybe Howard just doesn't quite view it as big a deal as I do.

 

Boca yes, Howard no.

 

At least it's one position we have some good depth in. It'd be disappointing if a 31-year-old keeper wanted to call it quits internationally, but we could handle it.

 

well, i guess i was silly for assuming that howard would still be in goal for 2014.

 

It would really suck, but by 2014 Guzan will be a very good goalie, and even if he flames out I like the stock we have back in MLS...

 

EASILY, for the next TWO cups? Really? Think about the amount of 39 year old keepers starting at World Cups. Then think about the reason there are so few. Yeah, Aaliyah sang about age being nuthin' but a number, but in sports she was wrong. Having said that, it would be a loss to not have him around heading into 2014. A big loss. Ouch.

 

Too bad because I think that Howard would be a good backup, at a minimum in 2014. Based on his performance in this World Cup, I don't think Howard should get any guarantees for 2014.

 

I don't blame him a bit. I am sure it has been a privilege for him to play for the USMNT but to extend his career, I am sure it would help him not have to put too many miles on his hands. An top notch keeper takes some brutality on his hands and body but mostly his hands. A world class goalies fingers are a mangled mess. In order to get some more mileage on his body, I am sure doing one job helps. I am sure he got plenty of advise from Mr. Friedel.

 

Its not out of the question he might retire, it would be a little dissapointing but it would be time to step up for Guzan.

 

Howard has been a bit of a riddle to me lately.
For long stretches, he seemed to blindly heave the ball forward. His punting distribution was awful. He was out of position or failing to cover his near post on almost every goal we gave up. He made very few saves that every keeper there wouldn't have made.

He didn't have a good tournament, at all.

And, really, I can live with that. Howard's a great keeper and everyone has a bad week. He got kicked in the ribs and who knows how much he was really affected?

But I can't shake the feeling that there's more there.

I don't think he trusted the defense and I think that once that domino fell, Howard lacked the ability to cope. Instead of trusting the defense and playing as he normally would, I think he tried to compensate with Hail Mary distribution and extremely risky positioning.

Throughout the tournament, he seemed almost angry that our back line isn't as cohesive as Everton's, and he couldn't get over it. If that is the case and he's not capable of adjusting from the club to the world game, perhaps he shouldn't be involved with the USMNT.

For more insight, check out the post game quotes here. Most are deeply personal insights on the game and what it meant to them along with some self-examination (see especially Ricardo Clark). In contrast, Howard's comments are oddly detached. Anyone who watched the game could have said these things, verbatim.

 

Guzan has a ways to go before I'm ready to say he can step in for Howard. He needs to start getting some games under his belt for one.

 

Whether or not Howard retires, I would be stunned if Guzan is our starter in 2014. I've never rated him at all.

 

I wonder if Howard has been reading his world cup performance reviews on sites like this one and others and a part of him is saying:

Screw this, time to start to focus on paying the bills.

 

Howard's a yeller.

If you watch Everton, he's constantly berating his back-line, even when he's at fault. He seemed actually pretty mild during the WC, given how often they left him cruelly exposed.

I think he'd come back, but that's just my guess. He's probably just very tired, very saddened by the performance, and wants to see who'll be managing the next cycle.

 

Somehow, I cannot imagine that this is the case.
Hanging out with the kids? Yeah.
Spending some quality time with the wife? Check.
Travel time back home? Probably.

Reading BS, and planning his future accordingly? You must be kidding.

 

This is what I was going to type earlier, but you articulated it better. I can't believe international retirement at 31 has even crossed his mind.

 

Given the kind of abuse an EPL player can potentially take from the English tabloids and that he's played at Man U, which is one of the biggest pressure cookers in the world, I doubt the criticism is what prompted this.

He just went through extra time only to get knocked out of an "easy draw," his back line was crap for the entire tournament, and his ribs are probably sore as hell. Under the circumstances, I'd be wondering if it was all worth it too, especially with another 4 years of qualifiers on the urine bag-throwing circuit in front of him before Brazil.