Howard! dude,,FSW Espanol gave the game live! well any1 who will back me up, i feel Howard had a good game and allowed only one goal against a powerhouse Italian Juventus; but i will admit the defense of Man U also played well; Howard played fantastic and deserves all the press attention he's received this whole time and i loved that save with his right foot in the fist half- shame it wasnt a shut-out but no matter it could have been 2 cause of the line block by the defense "You'll always be a Metro" the best sign- hung in midfield television side= very smart fan
i love timmy howard, don't get me wrong, he's the best keeper ever produced by MLS. And while he makes a lot of spectacular saves, it seems to me he tends to make the easier saves look tougher than they are. case and point: in today's Juventus game, there was a shot to his right should that most likely he could have caught, but he jumped in the air and batted it with his right hand and landed on the ground. He makes it fun to watch by doing this, but has anyone else noticed this?-
u need an [R] for this pal. anyway...he does look good, he is definitely convincing me. and i agree with md_05, it seems that sometimes he does make it look harder than it should be.
I would think there were some nerves but he played fairly well. I'm sure we were looking for perfection. His positioning wasn't perfect all the time but he did show his quickness and other abilities. He can only get better. BTW: there should be an [R] in the title of this thread.
He played good. 11 saves, some great saves. looked a little nervous at first. settled in as the game went on. Saw it on fox sports world. gave up a couple of rebounds, but made the saves any way. only gave up one goal which he could do nothing about. 4-1 man u. 79,000 fans. sir alex seemed to like what he saw. well see if he starts next match.
Yes. And that gaff near the end where he got caught out, but got his ass saved by Rio... that was positively Barthezian there. He's good, but he'll need to quit giving up as many rebounds as he did tonight, which he will at some point. But if he doesn't do it early in his premiership career, it will drastically cut into his playing time early on.
Like I stated, he did show some weakness in positioning that he'll hear about but I'm sure Man Utd. were pleased but there are important areas where he must show better to win the starting position this year. I'm all for him!
They certainly didnt play like a powerhouse. I think the Metros coulda beaten them tonight! In the first half Howard watched the whole game except for 1 save. Same in 2nd until Juve switched the ENTIRE team in one move.Then Howard worked more. He did ok but look a little lost on a couple of plays.
If Barthez played, this match ends 4-4. Timmy did just fine. I thought his distribution was generally fast and decisive. Only once did one of his backs bark at him for not sending him the ball to the outside, although the play Timmy made was acceptable. He was not perfect but on the whole I thought he looked comfortable. He made the first big save and that helped a lot. I thought he was surprised a bit by Davids' early shot -- TiHo had better get used to that because he is going to see a lot of those sudden 30-yard crackers in the EPL. He looked a damned sight better than either of his peers for Juventus. Big night for Tim in front of so many of his fans. Kudos for the Metro fan with the "You'll Always Be a Metro" banner at the halfway line. Nice touch.
As it was, it was an entertaining evening. The Ruud goal was incredible. Timmy made one significant mistake where he gave up a rebound that should have been put away for a goal, but otherwise he was solid. One acrobatic sequence where he made the initial stop, fell, got up, repositioned himself, and made the second diving save. No really good chances for Juve until after 62' when they (finally) brought in Del Pierro, Trezuguet and Nedved. Nedved's goal was almost perfectly placed and Tim can't be faulted for that. Maybe about 10-12,000 still in the stadium for the Howard presentation after the match. And yes, a very nice sign at midfield. Kudos to whoever made & brought it.
Great match by Timmy. Sure he wasn't "perfect," but he surely did prove that he's a great keeper. Quick reflex saves shows again why he's been the MetroStars MVP for the past 2.5 years.
Come on. I think Howard will be the Man Utd starter by the end of the year. I think he will be a better GK, eventually, than Barthez. But you're underrating one of the better keepers in the world. If I were doing a direct comparison, I'd say this: Howard has better positioning, better leaping, physical presence. Barthez has better hands, and perhaps *slightly* better reflexes. Both have spectacular agility, but Barthez is clearly starting to fade, there. Man Utd conceded the fewest goals in the EPL last year... and Barthez was 1st choice keeper almost all season. Howard made about 3 "excellent saves," and one truly world class save. He had a good, solid game. But let's not overstate that. Man Utd wins that game with almost anybody in the EPL, MLS, or Norwegian 1st Division in goal - it's ridiculously rare that *any* keeper ever keeps 3 extra goals out over another good keeper in any good game. And when you're comparing keepers of the quality of Howard and Barthez - well, certainly not.
They're probably still at Giants Stadium...stuck in the parking lot as it took me an hour to get home (normally it's about 15 minutes). Barthez was warming up at halftime. I thought he might replace Howard, but fortunately he didn't. The save someone mentioned that Howard made could not have been caught. Deflecting it with his right hand was the only thing he could do. If you weren't at the game and were watching it TV, slow-motion replays always make shots appear soft.
Re: Howard! Thanks for the comments guys. It took some time to haggle with security to let me put it there...but it worked out great. Did it look good on TV? I was in 315 and didn't get to see it all game. On another note...To the couple of ESC guys we happened to sit with...thanks for making this game even more fun than it already was. "YOU CAN TAKE US OUTTA 101...BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE THE 101 OUTTA US!" Cheering for timmy every time he went near the ball, combined with the other chants, just made my night. Been a few weeks since we've had a metro game, and this is just what the doctor ordered. Hopefully we run into a few more of ya in Philly.
Juventus looked not good for more then 60 minutes in this game. They had no dangerous players on the field during that time. Davids tried to attack, but it didn't happen. There dribblers kept getting cut off and isolated near the touch line so they would lose the ball. Then Juventus put in their dangerous players and were dangerous. I thought Howard did well he was a head 3-0 late in the game. That goal by juventus had good location. No keeper was going to stop that goal. Manchester United is a machine offensively. They have a lot of dangerous attacking players on that team. Hard to stop them all, hard to stop any of them. Manchester never gets caught in a trap a double team at the touch line. Because once they play the ball near the touch line they immediately pass it inside the field. Then that inside player #4 mostly forget his name reverses the field. Then they do it all over again. While they are doing it they are always moving up the field. They play a good game. I expected a lot more from Juventus. Of all the teams I have watched during this run of games lately. Barcelona v Manchester United would be a fantastic match. Oh, Pele was at the game. Both teams players gave him applause when he was intoduced. Many more Manchester United fans then juventus fans there tonight. I was surprised by that. Richie
I didn't know he made the trip. Well I would guess Barthez will likely get the start in Philly. Maybe he'll make a boo boo in goal.
I bet the ManU staff sees a diamond in the rough with Tim. Luckily, you can teach tactics and technique; something Tim is going to be inundated with I'm sure. Reflexes cannot be taught, of course, but Tim already has that area covered. The two gaffs I saw were his unintentional rebound that wasn't put away by Trezeguet and his early commitment to what he saw as a 1 v. 1 that actually was better played by staying home and giving the covering defense the chance to close the challenge down. That was the play where the sprawling ManU defender cleared away the shot after it had already been put behind Tim. I further bet that Tim's already been called to task by the ManU goalkeep coach on habits overlooked in MLS.
I was there and Timmy looked spectacular tonight. Sure thing he couldn't get that one shot that he allowed because the attacker used the defender as a screen and Timmy saw it late. It was still a great shot, but the rest of the way, he looked fabulos. I had alot of Italian fans half of the for Juventus of course. They came up to me and told me they couldn't believe the saves he made to keep that ball out. They said be proud. I already told them I was. I bought the last Blue short sleeved Metro GK Shirt online at the Metro website store and I got Timmy's number #18 on it. Pats on the back from the Man Utd supporters in my section. This is a proud moment for us Metro Supporters and US Soccer. MAke us proud at Old Trafford Timmy.
Howard was great. Sure, he could have done better at times, but he will only get better. For a first game, with that team, against that opponent, before 79K screaming fans, the butterflies must have been going crazy. He stepped up and did the job. Those two guys you see up ahead looking over their shoulders on the way to 2006 are named Friedel and Keller. As a DC United fan, I can only wish his transfer had happened a couple of weeks sooner so he wouldn't have had the opportunity to kill us all but single handedly in overtime. Sure, Gavan's goal was great, but what about Howard's saves? That save he made on Santino Quaranta, when Q chipped him and Tim turned around and caught up with the ball should have been on the highlights of his MLS career. That was an incredible save. He's well on his way to being one of the world's top keepers, IMHO.
I thought the keeper coach had an interesting warm up for the keepers. I especially liked a player shooting straight at him from the near post Howard was further out on the byeline, as soon as Howard caught the ball he gave it back to the shooter, as he did that goal keeper coach further out and in the area would shoot a hard low ball out to Howards right, and Howard would have to immeidately turn change direction and dive to his left to nake the same. Then he would again face the other player. Then they switched sides so howard would have to move to his right and dive to make that save. All keepers had a chance at this and other drills in the warm up in the warm up, even though only one Howard was starting. Everyone one got his turn there were three keepers warming up. On the drill I mentioned it was only coach, howard and one keeper. I just mentioned this because of your reference to the keeper coach.
Timmy had an excellent debut considering all the pressure. I'm sure SAF could not have expected more. He was so nervous, you could see. He was the only player whos warmup jersey was totally soaked with sweat. When the ball was at the other end of the pitch he was pacing, jumping, stretching, it was like he couldn't keep still. Besides one or 2 bad positions, the only thing he lacked was his rebounds. I kept yelling to myself (?!) "Timmy, hold onto the damn ball!". That, and I think he could have been better with the accuracy of his distribution when he kicked. But all this is like sawing Pamela Andersen has a freckle on her shoulder. I'm Soooo proud of our hometown boy. I don' think he'll be their number 1 right off, but I predict once he gets a few more matches under his belt he'll be number one by the mid-point of the season. And oh yea, how embarrasing was that grass?
Howard Stands Tall For Manchester United - NY Times, Alex Yannis The George Vescey front-page commentary is his typical they-only-play-the-beautiful-game-in-Europe crap. Tim Leads Man U - Daily News, Michael Lewis Howard Big Man In Debut - NY Post, Brian Lewis. Fans pack Giants Stadium for football, Manchester style - Star-Ledger, Frank Giase Howard helps Man U down Juventus -- Star-Ledger, Colin Stephenson Herald News / Bergen Record (www.northjersey.com) - "ManU puts it away" by Ives; "Howard celebrates homecoming" by Tim Leonard -- can't link here; follow front-page links
interesting how you can bring out record numbers of dormant fans from their soccer closets to an exhibition , while the metros and mls barely claw along.
I especially loved the "commercials" during the game "Manchester United watches the MetroStars (Howard) Shouldn't you?" I thought Tim had a good game, was caught out of postition alot, needs to work on his goalkicks (they go to no one, distance isn't everything) and got reeeeal nervous when all his defenders went past the half line. (He was shouting for them...and shouting..."guys?") He also got his butt worked out in the goalkeeper warmup. None of that soft shots on goal. They REALLY warm up hard on ManU. Alot of people joined in on the "You'll always be a Metro" chant when he came out. It was a nice warm fuzzy feeling. But I got the impression that Howard was like "dudes..i'm with my new friends now... thanks, but chill"