Chris Woods, the US GK coach, has the same role at Everton. I would assume it has more to do with him than Moyes. Although, Moyes is obviously very familiar with American players.
With Howard’s deputy Jan Mucha out of contract at the end of the season, former Arsenal keeper Alex Manninger, ex-Celtic No.1 Artur Boruc, the Philadelphia Union’s Zac MacMath and Egyptian Adam Mansour are among those to be given a trial in recent weeks as Everton look to bring in someone who will push the 33-year-old American harder.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...David-Moyes-wants-new-goalkeeper-Everton.html
I watched him all season and I'd say Zac is a long way from being able to push Tim Howard. His distribution certainly looks like Howard's though (not a compliment). Some Union fans even want a veteran keeper brought in to push MacMath next season. He's still very young, of course, and has time to develop. It just won't happen in the EPL any time soon.
The headline is of a dubious value. Tim will let in soft goals now and again but Everton will either bring in a clear replacement or a clear backup. The club has no money for a high quality rotation.
Before somebody says it..........................I believe Zac MacMath can get a Euro passport thru his father. He's trained at Everton several times, even dating back to when he was at Maryland I believe. http://www.yanks-abroad.com/content.php?mode=show&id=6727 And he's made no bones about the fact that he'd like to go to Europe some day.
I am surprised that the talk of the last two months has flown under the radar. MacMath has received interest from three clubs in Israel (at least three that I know of). Word is that Maccabi Haifa was sorting out a loan with an option to buy while waiting to see if current starter, Vladimir Stojković, would be returning to the club. The other potential suiters are Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Maccabi is just the usual nonsense of buying the player and then see if they even need them ala Tomer Chencinski.
Also, there was a previous MacMath thread: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/u17-gk-macmath-has-germany-tryout.543646/ Perhaps the moderators of this forum would like to merge them.
sort of fitting that we talk about MacMath leaving the Rapids in an old "MacMath to Everton" thread though.
I think at this stage, he needs experience if he is ever going to reach the potential people saw in him when he was younger. This is why he left Philadelphia in the first place, no?
obviously, the Rapids aren't bringing in Howard to sit on the bench, and in a vacuum Howard is better, but I'm not convinced "legit" is the best phrase, changing up a defense that has only allowed 11 goals in 16 matches is crazy to me.
This season it is six. But MacMath would qualify for citizenship as he is Jewish. He was in the Maccabiah squad years ago for the US.
Would hope he has more interest than simply the Israeli league though joining 1 of the top teams in the country that plays in the CL isn't terrible. We need him, Crooper, Horvath and Hamid all playing in either top leagues or at least the biggest clubs in the mid-tier leagues
He got screwed. One thing to lose your starting spot due to poor performances or outworked. He was the victim of a roster move that was purely for marketing. This isn't Howard's fault, taking that money at his age is smart. MLS wanted Howard, even if he is declining. Marketing sometimes is more important than quality when MLS negotiates transfers. We all know this.
What I've seen from McMath over the years is that he is good for one goal a game due to mental errors. Not sure if he's gotten over that.
He's 24. If you've been watching him for a long time, you may want to cut him some slack for the early years.
Sadly, I think he had some highlight reel blunders over the last few seasons. He'll need to cut that out fast because you lose your spot real fast in Israel. They don't give players any time to aclimate (sometimes to the detriment of the club itself). A good example is Portugal midfielder Adrien Silva. He had six games at Maccabi Haifa and was then shipped back to Portugal. Worked out better for him since he has had a great domestic career and is now in the national team. But proves that patience is not something the Israeli clubs have.