USA goalkeeper discussion thread - Episode IV: No Hope

I think we all exaggerate the impact that 3-4 practices now will have next June.

 

Here are the keepers called up in this window that I've seen.

USMNT:
Matt Freese (NYCFC)
Patrick Schulte (Columbus)
Roman Celentano (Cincinnati)
Jonathan Klinsmann (Cesena)

U21 (pre-Olympic):
Diego Kochen (Barcelona)
Gabriel Slonina (Chelsea)

U20:
Julian Eyestone (Brentford)
Andrew Rick (Philadelphia)

U19:
Zack Campagnolo (Colorado)
Kayne Rizvanovich (Minnesota)

U17 (World Cup)
Aidan Stokes (NYRB)
Jack Kortkamp (SKC)
William Lodmell (Sporting)

 

Zac MacMath announced his retirement at 31. Played with the U17s, starter for the U20s, trained with his U23 cycle.................but never got a USMNT cap. Won an NCAA national title with Maryland. If I remember correctly, he had shoulder surgery and didn't play at all this season. Tip of the cap to Zac for a nice career.

 

Zac is 34 years old and has been dealing with a back injury for some time.

 

You do realize you’ve posted a stat list where the first 5 GK’s ahead of Turner were all backup GK’s and played quite a bit less (so did Turner as he was here for only a half of a season)?

 

Might this be the first WC in forever in which all 3 GKs on the roster (or at least 2) are all active MLS players?

 

Well................we've never had them all in MLS.

The last time the goalkeepers were all domestic was pre-MLS: 1990. Tony Meola was at UVA. Kasey Keller was at the University of Portland (also played in the summer with the Portland Timbers). David Vanole was with the LA Heat of the APSL (Or was it WSL at the time? Who knows? I can't keep track of the alphabet soup.)

After that World Cup, Meola went to Brighton,

If you want a very difficult trivia question that even most of us hardcore USMNT fans would need AI to help with.............................name two other USMNT keepers to play for Brighton.

I'll give a hint. One of them was on two World cup squads. Now you should get that one. The other one is hard, but he's a capped USMNTer.

[As an aside, we don't talk about how impressive it was that our 1990 team of scrubs lost 1-0 to hosts Italy. Baresi, Maldini, Zenga, Ancelotti, Ferrara, Baggio, Donadoni, Mancini, Schillaci, Vialli, and on and on. We had three players from the Albany Capitals for Heaven's sake.]

 

Without looking it up....Hahnemann and Ian Feuer?

 

0 for 2. You're in the right timeframe.

Its a hard trivia question. It was actually asked to me as: Name the three capped USMNT goalkeepers to play at least one match for Brighton. I was 1 for 3 as well.

I saw this stat about the one that was on two world cup squads. This guy is actually the first USMNT keeper to start a match in the English Premier League. Not with Brighton.

The other one is even more difficult.

 

One of them has to be the original Juergen. I have no idea who the second one is

 

You got it.
Juergen Sommer.

I needed a lot more than a hint for the other one.
Only one cap for the USMNT. Came on at halftime of a friendly in 2011 against Paraguay as a replacement for Hahnemann. That should at least give people a timeframe.

 

Looked it up...I won't spoil it (my second guess with your clue was

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

Troy Perkins

) but I never in a million years would've gotten that

The match writeup (spoiler for the answer inside) is amusing though

https://nashvillesoccerarchive.com/united-states-0-paraguay-1-03-29-11

 

Is your spoiler wrong? He never played for Brighton.

The name of the keeper is in your link , though.

 

Yes the formatting is screwy, he was my 2nd guess after I read the clue

Right answer is in the article I linked

 

Oh man I'd forgotten about him, he was a thing for a little while, was with some decent teams if I remember right.

I was so far off base and flailing for the last one I was getting into Cody Cropper land.

 

Any inside info on who Mauricio might be looking at for that 3rd keeper role? Someone who's really excelled in recent training?

 

Wow, this November camp/matches have left me feeling very good about the team - except in goal.

One could argue that the goal scored by Paraguay was on a nice enough cross that Freese couldn't have gotten it, but he was still just rooted to his line (why??!!??).

Same can not be said of the goal that Uruguay scored. Yet ANOTHER soft goal that simply can't happen. When Freese comes for the ball, he has to get it. I don't GAF if he has to run over his own defender, get the freaking ball. He has done nothing to instill any confidence in his ability to just make the nominal saves, much less keep the US in a tight match. I don't expect a Tim Howard like performance, but he's not even on a Nick Romando level.

 

Assuming he looks solid in club friendlies etc between now and then, Turner needs to get another look in March IMO. His floor might be lower than Freese's but his ceiling is significantly higher.

Who knows. It'll be one of Schulte, Steffen, Brady, Klinsmann, or Celentano....probably lol. Hell we could do worse than Sean Johnson at this point. Gun to head my money would be on Schulte but again who knows.

 

Last nights gaff makes me think that someone talked to Freese about coming off his line more and I noticed it in a good way, but also in a really bad way on the goal. I haven’t seen him try to do something like that in past performances IIRC. Needs to work on that but would solve some of the issues I have him with him if he could sure it up a little more. Just a very unsure move, and you can hear him say “keep” but it was so late Freeman didn’t know what to do but panic clear it which didn’t go very far unfortunately.

 

Up until last week, I would have disagreed with this. Now, I think this is 100% spot on!!!

 

I don't think we know who #2 is, much less #3.

Poch has clearly gone with Freese and wants him to get as many games as possible.

Everything else in the depth chart is an assumption.

 

I think that after this window, Poch doesn't know who his #1 is. Given timing, he may stick with Freese, but I doubt he's happy about it.

 

At this point he's gotta go with it.

Freese has started the last 12 games.

The last time he started somebody else, it was the worst game of his tenure. The 4-0 embarrassment against Switzerland. That was Turner, who has now vanished. Matt was even our captain in that game.

 

Where to begin? We talk a lot about goalkeepers here, but much less about actual goalkeeping. Other countries develop GKs who were soccer players first, then became GKs. Many of our GKs, most notably Turner, have skipped the first step. That's why they sometimes look so awkward. It's not just the footskills that are lacking, it's the instincts, the timing.

For all of his shortcomings, Freese is the chosen one. We have a lot riding on his performance, and we need to build up his confidence. {So, Matt, if you're reading this, please stop here.}

++++++++++++

Paraguay's goal. This is instructive, I feel. My group was perfectly placed, watching the play unfold right in front of us. It happened very quickly. Great deep ball from midfield into the corner, putting Scally to the chase, great first-time low, bounced cross, and a tremendous CB-splitting run and header off the bouncing ball. For those here who have played the game, you know it can be very difficult to judge/head a fast-moving ball off a bounce. This time, the ball sat up nicely, and in slow-motion, it looked relatively easy, but if you duck your head a moment early, the ball flies over the bar. Credit to the three Paraguayan players involved.

Let's talk about the defense. We might have pressured the original passer better, and we could have played the crosser fully offside (as Scally did), not partially. Scally could have recovered faster to prevent/hinder the cross. Robinson (more so) or Ream (less so) could have covered the goal scorer (or at least have made his path more difficult).

What could Freese have done differently? Sorry, in the instant you took to form an answer, the ball was already in the net. There isn't time to think, you rely on instinct. Stay back and stand your ground, ready to react, or come out and claim the ball.

On Paraguay's goal, there is no way of knowing whether Freese could have successfully intercepted the cross, unless he anticipated what was going to happen (and 'cheated' on his positioning a bit). Presumably, Freese took some stick for playing it safe v Paraguay and decided to become more daring v Uruguay. He was right to seek the ball (on the play that eventually led to Uruguay's goal), but the execution was badly flawed.

I'm not used to making long posts, and somewhere along the way, I lost my train of thought. I primarily want to echo the feelings of many that right now, Goalkeeper is our position of greatest concern.

 

This was my impression also.
Freese is a conservative keeper. If he’s even a little unsure, he stays put and relies on his ability to stop the shot. It’s worked for him.
Until it hasn’t and he caught some heat for it. Then he overcorrects. If everyone isn’t careful, you have a goalie who’s in his head with little confidence.