cover photo belongs to Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer
2019 brings many new promises and surprises, including a brief rundown of the top 100 American goalkeepers on the men’s side. This go-round we’ll be focusing in on one specific goalkeeper, instead of giving a snapshot of 4-5 different ones, by highlighting the one who has the most riding on 2019. (Essentially the one with the most interesting narrative.) Most highlighted goalkeepers are in their mid-to-late 20s, as goalkeepers in the back end of their 20s aren’t bestowed second chances as often as early 20-year-olds are.
1. Tim Melia, 31 - Sporting Kansas City
2. Stefan Frei, 32 - Seattle Sounders
3. Ethan Horvath, 23 - Club Brugge
4. Zack Steffen, 23 - Columbus Crew
5. Brad Guzan, 34 - Atlanta United
6. Jeff Attinella, 30 - Portland Timbers
7. Joe Willis, 30 - Houston Dynamo
8. Alex Bono, 24 - Toronto FC
9. Luis Robles, 34 - New York Red Bulls
10. Jimmy Maurer, 31 - FC Dallas
Breakout or Bust Year: Ethan Horvath. With the 2019 Gold Cup this summer and the USMNT’s first run in the CONCACAF Nations League in the fall, 2019 should be a lot of fun with Horvath and Steffen duking it out for the number one spot. Public perception seems to think it’s Steffen’s job to lose but with how well Horvath played in UEFA Champions League matches - notching three shutouts against Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, and Monaco - it dwarfs Steffen’s MLS quarterfinalist run. Critics have often doubted Horvath’s consistency, which makes these next six months all the more important for him to prove himself. In some sense, it feels like Horvath and Guzan have some parallels, periodically showing flashes of brilliance paired with moments of regret. If Horvath can have a strong spring, Steffen may not be the only American goalkeeper making a big move in the summer. However if it’s more of 2017-18’s up-and-downs, Horvath could have a long road to realistically challenge for the number one spot again.
11. Patrick McLain, 30 - Free Agent
12. Joe Bendik, 29 - Columbus Crew
13. Tim Howard, 39 - Colorado Rapids
14. Bill Hamid, 28 - DC United
15. Nick Rimando, 39 - Real Salt Lake
16. Tyler Miller, 25 - Los Angeles FC
17. Steve Clark, 32 - Portland Timbers
18. Evan Bush, 32 - Montreal Impact
19. Spencer Richey, 26 - Cincinnati FC
20. Evan Newton, 30 - Free Agent
Breakout or Bust Year: Spencer Richey. While I believe Pat McLain showed the ability to take on a starting position in the league, the real pressure lands on Spencer Richey’s shoulders. The University of Washington alum won the starting position for Cincinnati’s last year in the USL over Evan Newton and now the newly minted MLS side has brought in a veteran keeper to challenge Richey once again. Richey has already had a brief cup of coffee in MLS but Vancouver didn’t seem to know what to do with him - or the rest of the goalkeeping core - as they opted for David Ousted (2017), Stefan Marinovic (2018), and Brian Rowe (2018) for the last two years. (None of the three goalkeepers are with Whitecaps anymore.) Richey has some doubters to prove wrong. Not only did Vancouver send him out for pennies on the dollar, but Cincinnati isn’t hedging their bets completely on Richey either. Things aren’t set in stone from day one, but Richey will want to nail down the starting position in March instead of playing catchup all year.
21. Matt Turner, 24 - New England Revolution
22. Alex Horwath, 31 - Real Salt Lake
23. Adam Grinwis, 26 - Orlando City SC
24. Zac MacMath, 27 - Vancouver Whitecaps
25. Cody Mizell, 27 - New Mexico United
26. Jon Kempin, 25 - Columbus Crew
27. Tyler Deric, 30 - Houston Dynamo
28. Sean Johnson, 29 - New York City FC
29. David Bingham, 29 - Los Angeles Galaxy
30. Ryan Meara, 28 - New York Red Bulls
Breakout or Bust Year: Adam Grinwis. The Joe Bendik-era in Orlando is officially over and the Lions picked up Grinwis for cheap (aka $0) at the end of the season. Grinwis doesn’t have a plethora of professional starts under his belt but he’s also running into a problem every goalkeeper encounters: he’s not exactly young anymore. It’s a hard sell to convince a team that a middle-aged goalkeeper without a ton of games deserves more starts. That’s typically reserved for younger goalkeepers or proven veterans. However, Orlando brought him in for a reason and it probably starts with his spring and fluidity when making a save. Orlando will surely look to mimic Cincinnati in bringing in a veteran to even out the position but all signs point to a massive opportunity for Grinwis, who turns 27 in April. If Grinwis can start for at least a chunk of the season, he’ll have a much easier time convincing his coach in 2020 that he’s a serious contender for the starting spot. If he sits the bench as he did for most of 2016, he may find himself pegged as a perennial backup.
31. Abraham Romero, 20 - Pachuca
32. Bobby Shuttleworth, 31 - Minnesota United FC
33. Brian Rowe, 30 - Free Agent
34. William Yarbrough, 29 - Leon
35. Josh Cohen, 26 - Sacramento Republic
36. Brendan Moore, 26 - Rochdale
37. Clint Irwin, 29 - Colorado Rapids
38. Trevor Spangenberg, 27 - Free Agent
39. Matt Lampson, 29 - Los Angeles Galaxy
40. Brandon Miller, 29 - Charlotte Independence
Breakout or Bust Year: Josh Cohen. There are a number of worthy candidates in this gap. Shuttleworth and Rowe are focusing on prolonging their respective careers for as long as possible, Yarbrough and Moore haven’t had a consistent season in a number of years, but Josh Cohen takes the cake here. Largely unnoticed, it’s not necessarily a poor move for him to return to Sacramento, but without a clear path to MLS, he’ll have a hard time moving out of the league. Cohen started every match in 2018 in his first year with the club - and cementing himself as one of the top USL goalkeepers for my money - but unless a team wants to take a flyer on him as Orlando did with their two current goalkeepers (Grinwis, Ranjitsingh), there really isn’t much hope for him to make the next level. Cohen checks a lot of the boxes when MLS teams are looking for a trustworthy goalkeeper, but MLS teams don’t have much of a history of bringing in a USL goalkeeper from a non-affiliated team. Cohen has the ability for the next level, but it’ll be hard to make the jump, to say the least.
41. Andrew Dykstra, 33 - Free Agent
42. Eric Klenofsky, 24 - Hapoel Marmorek
43. Chris Seitz, 31 - Houston Dynamo
44. Brad Stuver, 27 - New York City FC
45. John McCarthy, 26 - Free Agent
46. Richard Sanchez, 24 - Chicago Fire
47. Andrew Tarbell, 25 - San Jose Earthquakes
48. Brian Sylvestre, 26 - Free Agent
49. Diego Restrepo, 30 - Free Agent
50. Alec Kann, 28 - Atlanta United
Breakout or Bust Year: Andrew Tarbell. There are some implications based on how well Klenofsky, Sanchez, and McCarthy do in 2019 but Andrew Tarbell’s future in the league is running dangerously close to Zac MacMath’s path. MacMath was a heralded young goalkeeper but after immediately being thrown in the deep end and sinking, he would end up playing second fiddle for four years (and possibly a fifth, depending on how Vancouver wants to maneuver). Tarbell was abysmal in 2018 but we know he has the talent to be better, so we’re left scratching our heads as to what his ceiling actually is. Sitting behind Marcinkowski might actually be good for him to reset, but he also needs game time to keep progressing, especially at this age. Tarbell needs to make his most recent run of outings positive. If he sits for 2019, coaches are just going to look at his last line of work, which will be a sour 2018. If he ends up in an even worse situation for 2019, it’s only going to cement coaches’ uneasiness to bring him in. It’s a tightrope Tarbell needs to walk in getting games but he also doesn’t have a lot of leeway in terms of “sink or swim”.
51. Matt Bersano, 26 - San Jose Earthquakes
52. Charlie Lyon, 26 - Free Agent
53. Akira Fitzgerald, 31 - Free Agent
54. Matt Pyzdrowski, 32 - Varbergs BoIS
55. Mitch Hildebrandt, 30 - Free Agent
56. Andre Rawls, 29 - New York City FC
57. Matt Pickens, 36 - Nashville SC
58. Eric Dick, 24 - Sporting Kansas City
59. Zac Lubin, 29 - Phoenix Rising
60. Earl Edwards, 27 - DC United
Breakout or Bust Year: Eric Dick. Last year the MLS SuperDraft saw a record number of goalkeepers fly off the shelf, with Butler’s Eric Dick leading the way. Dick possesses the frame most MLS teams are looking for and with Tim Melia conceivably retiring around the same time Dick would be coming into his peak years, it seemed like a natural fit. However 2018 was an up and down year for the former Bulldog, where most of Dick’s limitations where centered on mobility and catching up to the pace of the game. It seems MLS sides are becoming quicker to move on from projects that aren’t working out and with how quick players trade value can plummet, Dick might be on the trading block if SKC doesn’t think he can make the jump to the next level. If Dick can sort out some of the finer points of his footwork, he’ll remind coaches why he was worth the early pick last college draft. If not, SKC may look to get a return for Dick through other avenues.
61. Scott Angevine, 29 - Mikkelin Palloilijat
62. Kyle Zobeck, 28 - FC Dallas
63. Wade Hamilton, 24 - Los Angeles Galaxy II
64. Rafael Diaz, 27 - Sacramento Republic
65. Will Dieterich, 31 - Stjarnan
66. Carl Woszczynski, 30 - Free Agent
67. Logan Ketterer, 25 - Free Agent
68. Tomas Gomez, 25 - St. Louis FC
69. Quentin Westberg, 32 - AJ Auxerre
70. Connor Sparrow, 24 - Nashville SC
Breakout or Bust Year: Wade Hamilton. If Hamilton has a poor year in 2019, it won’t tank his career, but it’ll likely remove the possibility of him succeeding in LA. After a lackluster year, David Bingham left the door open for any worthy challengers. It’s a tall task for the twenty-four-year-old, but similar to Eric Dick’s situation, at some point your potential is just your current ability. With Hamilton nearing his peak and not getting a ton of starts with either MLS or USL side, Hamilton’s time could be dwindling out west unless he’s able to give Galaxy fans reason to believe that Kevin Hartman won’t be the last young, successful goalkeeper in LA.
71. Cody Cropper, 25 - New England Revolution
72. Joe Kuzminsky, 25 - Charleston Battery
73. Matt Van Oekel, 32 - Birmingham Legion
74. Travis Worra, 25 - DC United
75. Tim Murray, 31 - FC Honka
76. Austin Guerrero, 29 - Free Agent
77. Bryan Meredith, 29 - Seattle Sounders
78. Kris Devaux, 27 - Bryne FK
79. Jeff Gal, 25 - BK Forward
80. CJ Cochran, 27 - Fresno FC
Breakout or Bust Year: Jeff Gal. Gal has quietly stowed away in the lower levels of Sweden for the past couple years and while playing overseas is always an admirable accomplishment, Sweden’s third division isn’t anyone’s desired final destination. If Gal can’t find a proper suitor to move up to, he may need to look for another country to conquer. Gal possesses the increasingly popular thin, agile frame a number of modern teams are looking for in the starting goalkeeper. He would most likely be successful in USL were he to choose that route, but wherever he ends up, he’ll surely won’t be content without finding out the limit to his abilities.
81. Jesse Gonzalez, 23 - FC Dallas
82. Sean Lewis, 26 - St. Louis FC
83. Jake Fenlason, 25 - Tulsa Roughnecks
84. Kendall McIntosh, 25 - Portland Timbers
85. Alex Mangels, 25 - Portland Timbers II
86. Michael Nelson, 23 - Houston Dynamo
87. Stefan Cleveland, 24 - Chicago Fire
88. Andrew Putna, 24 - Real Salt Lake
89. Kyle Morton, 24 - Pittsburgh Riverhounds
90. Dan Lynd, 24 - Free Agent
Breakout or Bust Year: Jesse Gonzalez. It’s been the same story for a couple years now: a good save followed by a disheartening goal. It wouldn’t be completely off base to say FC Dallas’ season came to an end because Gonzalez couldn’t figure out a fairly typical through ball situation. The once highly sought-after dual citizen who ended up making the bench for the 2017 Gold Cup is now struggling to be the popular choice in Frisco. Pareja backed him in 2018 but with a new coach brought in, the tune may change. At only twenty-three, Gonzalez enters his seventh year with the organization and if he can’t convince the staff he’s still not the clear number one choice, Gonzalez may end up in a similar position as Sean Johnson found himself: out of town.
91. Jeff Caldwell, 22 - New York City FC
92. Eric Lopez, 19 - Los Angeles Galaxy II
93. Mike Kirk, 24 - Free Agent
94. Bobby Edwards, 23 - Mount St. Mary's
95. Drew Shepherd, 24 - Toronto FC II
96. Tim Dobrowolski, 25 - Free Agent
97. Todd Morton, 23 - Delaware
98. Matt Cardone, 25 - San Antonio FC
99. Jake McGuire, 24 - Free Agent
100. JT Marcinkowski, 21 - San Jose Earthquakes
Breakout or Bust Year: Drew Shepherd. One of the footnotes of last year’s draft, Shepherd landed with Toronto only to get injured in the first game of the year. It’s coming up on eight months since the injury and Toronto has already been linked with drafting Dayne St. Clair as another goalkeeper within the organization. For a goalkeeper who only lost a dozen times in college, it’s clear he’s no stranger to overcoming the odds but he only has 16 professional minutes to his name thus far. If Shepherd wants to avoid earning only 16 minutes in two years, he’ll need to show coaches that he’s been worth the wait one way or another.