Future of U.S. goalkeeping in good hands
By Brent Latham
ESPN INSIDER
The developing trend of adding statistical analysis and modeling to the beautiful game is here to stay, but ask those who know and they'll tell you that evaluating soccer talent is still a subjective skill. And when statistics can't do the job, coaches have to fall back on their instincts and judgment to get the lineup right.
Consider, for example, the following numbers for two MLS goalkeepers during 2011:
<!-- begin inline 1 --><table><thead><tr><th></th><th>GP</th><th>GS</th><th>MIN</th><th>SO</th><th>SV</th><th>GA</th><th>W</th><th>L</th><th>T</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr class="last"><td>GK No. 1</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>2392</td><td>7</td><td>77</td><td>37</td><td>7</td><td>9</td><td>12</td></tr><tr class="last"><td>GK No. 2</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>2520</td><td>7</td><td>76</td><td>37</td><td>9</td><td>7</td><td>12</td></tr></tbody></table>
<!-- end inline 1 -->
With the same amount of starts, shutouts and goals allowed, and only one save separating the two after a full season, how would a coach choose between the two?
But that's exactly what Caleb Porter will have to do in the next few weeks. If you hadn't guessed, those stat lines are for the two American Olympic goalkeepers, Bill Hamid (GK No. 1) and Sean Johnson (GK No. 2).
Johnson has figured in American national teams since then-U-20 coach Thomas Rongen uncovered him between the pipes at the University of Central Florida, while Hamid burst onto the national team scene when newly named full team coach Jurgen Klinsmann decided he had the stuff to be Tim Howard's heir apparent. Johnson is a year older, but not much more experienced.
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Now the two MLS starters are neck and neck in terms of developing into the next great American netminder. Given their similar trajectories and pedigrees, it's reasonable to think both might become top-level international keepers. So selecting one starter for next week's Olympic qualifying tournament will undoubtedly be a challenge for Porter.
But neither budding star is worried about the competition. For now, both are just pleased to be in the national team picture, after a productive January full team camp was followed by a week-long Olympic Camp last month.
"It's good to be in the mix, guys our age, it's an honor to play for your full team," Johnson said. "You want to take advantage of getting called up, and when you get the chance to play, make the most of it. The depth chart is what it is, you have a lot of months leading up to the World Cup qualifiers and the Olympics, so I think especially going back to our clubs, we need to make sure we're getting better every day."
Johnson has gotten the chance to improve at the international level of late, coming in for the second half and keeping the zero in the full team's 1-0 win in Panama in late January. He then split time with Hamid, again playing the second half, in the Olympic team's 2-0 win over Mexico late last month. The Chicago Fire No. 1 looked solid in both outings, but Klinsmann's earlier call-ups of the 21-year-old Hamid, and his starting roles against Venezuela in January and Mexico's U-23s last month, make the DC United product the frontrunner to man the pipes when Olympic qualifying kicks off later this month, and possibly backup Howard when World Cup qualifying begins in June.
"There's no guarantee," Hamid said. "You can't say I'm the backup until World Cup time, until the qualifiers. But I feel good, sharp, like I'm organizing well, and I'm happy where I'm at. But it's not finished, you have to keep working."
With Johnson likely to be next to him in many of the national team camps Hamid finds himself in over the next few years, Hamid will need to work to maintain any edge he might currently enjoy. That makes for a win-win scenario as the duo drives one another to compete and improve -- a budding situation reminiscent of the heyday of American goalkeeping in the late 90s and early 2000s, when U.S. soccer began to gain respect worldwide primarily for the quality of its goalies.
In fact, the European success of American keepers like Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel and Marcus Hahnemann predated today's steady stream of American exports to Europe, and paved the way for young American keepers in England. So it's no coincidence that both Johnson and Hamid have European dreams as well. Both trained over the winter with EPL clubs -- Johnson at Everton and Hamid at West Brom -- learning a bit about what it will eventually take to be successful at the highest levels of club soccer.
"It's huge," Johnson said of his 12-day stint alongside Tim Howard at Goodison Park. "Everything's so sharp there, if you will. The players are so technical, the speed of play, you hear that so often but you don't get to actually experience it until you're actually there. It's my second English Premier League club, I also trained at Blackburn, so just to see how the level is in England and work every day just to get better and hopefully one day play there."
Given their size, athleticism and early career starts, it's a good bet that both Hamid and Johnson will end up in England when the time is right. In the meantime, just the prospect of a renewed competition of top-notch keepers for the backup spot is enough to provide relief for American fans who might have worried about Howard's hegemony in the American goal since the international retirements of the likes of Keller and Friedel.
For now, with both young American keepers putting up strikingly similar numbers in MLS, the identity of the next long-term American No. 1 remains up in the air. But given the longevity top goalkeepers tend to enjoy, it's much easier to predict that the American goal will be in good hands for quite some time to come.
Notes
• According to one report yet to be confirmed, U-17 playmaker and current Bradenton resident Junior Flores has signed a four-year contract with a club "overseas" after turning down numerous advances from MLS. The pre-contract would leave the Virginia native at Bradenton through the U-17 cycle, and see him move to Europe when he turns 18, per FIFA regulations.
• Defending Norwegian champions Molde have lent promising U-20 left back Sean Cunningham to Stabaek -- the club that owns Mix Diskerud's contract -- for the rest of the Norwegian campaign, in a bid to get the young defender more regular game time.
</offer>
By Brent Latham
ESPN INSIDER
The developing trend of adding statistical analysis and modeling to the beautiful game is here to stay, but ask those who know and they'll tell you that evaluating soccer talent is still a subjective skill. And when statistics can't do the job, coaches have to fall back on their instincts and judgment to get the lineup right.
Consider, for example, the following numbers for two MLS goalkeepers during 2011:
<!-- begin inline 1 --><table><thead><tr><th></th><th>GP</th><th>GS</th><th>MIN</th><th>SO</th><th>SV</th><th>GA</th><th>W</th><th>L</th><th>T</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr class="last"><td>GK No. 1</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>2392</td><td>7</td><td>77</td><td>37</td><td>7</td><td>9</td><td>12</td></tr><tr class="last"><td>GK No. 2</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>2520</td><td>7</td><td>76</td><td>37</td><td>9</td><td>7</td><td>12</td></tr></tbody></table>
<!-- end inline 1 -->
With the same amount of starts, shutouts and goals allowed, and only one save separating the two after a full season, how would a coach choose between the two?
But that's exactly what Caleb Porter will have to do in the next few weeks. If you hadn't guessed, those stat lines are for the two American Olympic goalkeepers, Bill Hamid (GK No. 1) and Sean Johnson (GK No. 2).
Johnson has figured in American national teams since then-U-20 coach Thomas Rongen uncovered him between the pipes at the University of Central Florida, while Hamid burst onto the national team scene when newly named full team coach Jurgen Klinsmann decided he had the stuff to be Tim Howard's heir apparent. Johnson is a year older, but not much more experienced.
<offer>
Now the two MLS starters are neck and neck in terms of developing into the next great American netminder. Given their similar trajectories and pedigrees, it's reasonable to think both might become top-level international keepers. So selecting one starter for next week's Olympic qualifying tournament will undoubtedly be a challenge for Porter.
But neither budding star is worried about the competition. For now, both are just pleased to be in the national team picture, after a productive January full team camp was followed by a week-long Olympic Camp last month.
"It's good to be in the mix, guys our age, it's an honor to play for your full team," Johnson said. "You want to take advantage of getting called up, and when you get the chance to play, make the most of it. The depth chart is what it is, you have a lot of months leading up to the World Cup qualifiers and the Olympics, so I think especially going back to our clubs, we need to make sure we're getting better every day."
Johnson has gotten the chance to improve at the international level of late, coming in for the second half and keeping the zero in the full team's 1-0 win in Panama in late January. He then split time with Hamid, again playing the second half, in the Olympic team's 2-0 win over Mexico late last month. The Chicago Fire No. 1 looked solid in both outings, but Klinsmann's earlier call-ups of the 21-year-old Hamid, and his starting roles against Venezuela in January and Mexico's U-23s last month, make the DC United product the frontrunner to man the pipes when Olympic qualifying kicks off later this month, and possibly backup Howard when World Cup qualifying begins in June.
"There's no guarantee," Hamid said. "You can't say I'm the backup until World Cup time, until the qualifiers. But I feel good, sharp, like I'm organizing well, and I'm happy where I'm at. But it's not finished, you have to keep working."
With Johnson likely to be next to him in many of the national team camps Hamid finds himself in over the next few years, Hamid will need to work to maintain any edge he might currently enjoy. That makes for a win-win scenario as the duo drives one another to compete and improve -- a budding situation reminiscent of the heyday of American goalkeeping in the late 90s and early 2000s, when U.S. soccer began to gain respect worldwide primarily for the quality of its goalies.
In fact, the European success of American keepers like Kasey Keller, Brad Friedel and Marcus Hahnemann predated today's steady stream of American exports to Europe, and paved the way for young American keepers in England. So it's no coincidence that both Johnson and Hamid have European dreams as well. Both trained over the winter with EPL clubs -- Johnson at Everton and Hamid at West Brom -- learning a bit about what it will eventually take to be successful at the highest levels of club soccer.
"It's huge," Johnson said of his 12-day stint alongside Tim Howard at Goodison Park. "Everything's so sharp there, if you will. The players are so technical, the speed of play, you hear that so often but you don't get to actually experience it until you're actually there. It's my second English Premier League club, I also trained at Blackburn, so just to see how the level is in England and work every day just to get better and hopefully one day play there."
Given their size, athleticism and early career starts, it's a good bet that both Hamid and Johnson will end up in England when the time is right. In the meantime, just the prospect of a renewed competition of top-notch keepers for the backup spot is enough to provide relief for American fans who might have worried about Howard's hegemony in the American goal since the international retirements of the likes of Keller and Friedel.
For now, with both young American keepers putting up strikingly similar numbers in MLS, the identity of the next long-term American No. 1 remains up in the air. But given the longevity top goalkeepers tend to enjoy, it's much easier to predict that the American goal will be in good hands for quite some time to come.
Notes
• According to one report yet to be confirmed, U-17 playmaker and current Bradenton resident Junior Flores has signed a four-year contract with a club "overseas" after turning down numerous advances from MLS. The pre-contract would leave the Virginia native at Bradenton through the U-17 cycle, and see him move to Europe when he turns 18, per FIFA regulations.
• Defending Norwegian champions Molde have lent promising U-20 left back Sean Cunningham to Stabaek -- the club that owns Mix Diskerud's contract -- for the rest of the Norwegian campaign, in a bid to get the young defender more regular game time.
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