For several decades, the starting goalkeeper for the US national team possessed a supernatural aura that convinced their fans that the US would always have a chance at a result, no matter how difficult the opponent was. From Borghi to Scurry to Howard, each goalkeeper provided iconic moments that now live on as some of the greatest performances by an American goalkeeper. However, the two national teams’ goalkeeping pools have diverged significantly in recent years. Whereas the USMNT’s goalkeepers have failed to uphold their reputation as English Premier League-level talent, the USWNT’s goalkeepers are still in the conversation for best in the world. So how did one national team’s goalkeepers dip while the other avoided the same pitfalls? Or has the USWNT not learned to avoid the same problems the men suffered from?
How the USMNT Got Here
There are many factors that go into a country’s goalkeeping pipeline and the USMNT have struggled to continue to execute on most of them. For the past twenty years, the USSF went without a goalkeeping hire after not replacing Peter Mellor as the federation’s goalkeeping director in 2005. In that time, the country saw the loss of goalkeeping education in 2015, with the federation missing a goalkeeping-centric education license, as well as any serious goalkeeping focus on the common letter licenses (A, B, C, etc.).
On top of the removal of goalkeeping education, the distilling of traditional pathways like ODP in favor of MLS academies ended up outsourcing the position’s development to whoever was interested, instead of being led by a clear governing body. MLS’s goalkeeper coaches arrived and left every 3-5 years, continually bringing new ideas and discarding old philosophies, making American goalkeeping like a truck spinning its wheels in mud.
Then MLS Next started pulling in more non-MLS affiliated academies - which was heavily influenced by the potential of allotted money to MLS Next teams only, not teams outside of MLS Next - a talented goalkeeper was essentially faced with the choice of finding an MLS Next team or being left out in the cold. Fast-forward to 2025 and this half-baked effort led to a league that rarely produces American goalkeeping talent and plays more foreign goalkeepers than domestic while the country faces a unique problem of a goalkeeping logjam where goalkeepers’ professional pathways get choked out, stifling their development at a crucial stage.
In 2025, MLS featured more foreign goalkeepers than American for the first time in the league’s history.
But what’s to say about the women’s setup? Four former professional goalkeepers from the women’s game weighed in on the current USMNT/USWNT goalkeeping situation: Saskia Webber (Rutgers, USWNT), Jill Loyden (Villanova, USWNT), Michele Dalton (Wisconsin, Chicago Red Stars), and Emily Armstrong (UConn, IBV).
Are the USWNT Avoiding the USMNT’s Potholes?
For most of its existence, the women have largely been forced to carve their own path as the federation would not treat the two national teams equally. As former NT goalkeeper Janine Szpara explained it, “US Soccer has a pattern of not supporting and giving the women what they need or what they deserve.” Even in more recent years, we’ve still seen an imbalance in investment. In 2018, when the USSF tried to kickstart a new goalkeeping license, it was MLS coaches, not NWSL coaches, invited to the pilot course.
So left adrift from the federation, the main saving grace for the women’s goalkeeping pipeline is that the US had the elite youth system in the entire world for the last 50 years, and, whenever afloat, a top professional league as well. The US enjoyed an early advantage with goalkeeping due to these investments. Emily Armstrong spoke on her difficulty in going from the US to Europe when it came to what she expected to receive.
“While training with the Thorns and the Spirit, I had access to goalkeeper training on a daily basis, and even had opportunities for additional training outside of the daily practices. This was not the case overseas. In some situations, there was no goalkeeper-specific training offered, and I had to advocate for myself. At the time I was a little frustrated by this fact, but looking back on my experience, I am thankful that I was put into situations where I had to speak up, and find ways to improve my game without the routine goalkeeper training I was used to at UConn and in the NWSL. In Norway, I would train with the men’s keepers, because the women’s team did not have a goalkeeper coach of their own.”
But as the US gained a significant and early lead, with early stalwarts of Brianna Scurry and Hope Solo shining brightly on the world stage, these advantages started to erode.
“We haven’t put resources into education,” states Loyden. “Our goalkeeper coaches thought, ‘Oh, it’s a technical position.’ Coaches became overly technical and killed athleticism. Then the game evolved for goalkeepers to use their feet and we were even further behind.”
Fast forward to 2025, where the NWSL’s top goalkeeper has come from outside the US three out of the last four years. So while the US was once reaping the rewards of having the top league in the world filled with American goalkeepers, NWSL coaches are looking more and more overseas to find goalkeepers who are well-rounded out, having less trust in the underdeveloped American goalkeepers. Webber and Dalton express concern about the next steps.
“I don’t know if I would say [the USWNT] are having an easier time [than the men],” writes Webber, “None of the goalkeepers in the [USWNT] pool right now have enough experience or have proven themselves in a major tournament to grab the number one spot.”
“I actually don’t think the USWNT is having an easy time replacing Naeher,” echoes Dalton. “I do think Naeher replaced Solo pretty seamlessly. The men seem to always be behind the rest of the world, and instead of closing that gap, we continue to further ourselves. On the women’s side, more resources are becoming available to women internationally, so other countries have been able to close the gap.”
Substance Over Style
Continuing to invest in American goalkeeping poses a difficult question. “What exactly is American goalkeeping? What does it look like? How does one define it?” These questions are difficult to answer largely because it’s hard to find a consistent thread from the top. From Friedel to Howard to Freese, the USMNT have started three very different goalkeepers in a relatively short time. From Scurry to Solo to Naeher, again, three very different goalkeepers wore the number one shirt for the national team. And while the lack of a specific identity may not be met with a consensus, all four retired goalkeepers speak about the importance of a clear blueprint to uplift American goalkeeping, even if it is just a detailed approach for one specific individual.
“What is our identity?” asks Loyden. “I don’t know what that is. But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. We teach the ABCs at The Keeper Institute. Adaptable, brave, and consistent problem solvers. But consistent problem solvers can do that in a variety of ways.”
“I had goalkeeper coaches who worked with my style of play and made adaptations as needed,” said Armstrong. “I also had goalkeeper coaches who tried to change my style to fit theirs. I believe there is always room for growth, but I also think it’s important to meet the goalkeeper where they are, and progress from there. Every keeper has their own style, and there really is no ‘correct’ approach to the position. The goalkeeper coaches I appreciated most were those who would break down film and give me pointers, plus also listen to my perspective. I had the most growth with goalkeeper coaches who I could discuss both positive and negative plays in the game.
“An individual’s ability to take in new information while staying true to themselves is pretty paramount in being successful. I’m a big believer that instilling confidence and belief in a goalkeeper has to come above style. Maintaining consistent principles is key when styles vary,” says Dalton.
Webber recognizes the problem young goalkeepers today face when they’re pulled in too many different directions. “The funny thing is all my coaches [across my career] had the same basic philosophies around the position and training. Possibly because they had all worked together. The problem today is that doesn’t happen as much, so young goalkeepers can be all over the place when they move from team to team or coach to coach.
Optimistic Future
As we enter the next quarter of the century, our retired goalkeepers are still making positive impacts on the game, whether it is by becoming a goalkeeper coach themselves or offering insightful goalkeeping-specific commentary on nationally televised broadcasts. These efforts go a long way but the need for a federation-coordinated effort is paramount. In Fall 2024, Jack Robinson was hired as Head of Goalkeeping after nearly two decade run through the highest ranks in England. Recently, Robinson talked about his efforts with the federation to help goalkeeping in our country, highlighting an expansion in goalkeeping education, more talent identification across the country, and the benefit of national team managers who want to utilize their goalkeepers as something more than a line sitter. These are encouraging signs of life from the federation, but for the last twenty years, American fans have been promised that investment into the goalkeeping department was on the way, despite never seeing any actual progress.
As of right now, the USWNT are still able to boast about having one of the top goalkeepers in the world between the posts, whether that be a goalkeeper from the NWSL or overseas. Looking back to where the USMNT were, with their 2002 and 2006 World Cup rosters featuring Brad Friedel, Tim Howard, Kasey Keller, Tony Meola, and Marcus Hahnemann, Ernest Hemingway’s quote comes to mind: “How do you go bankrupt? Two ways, gradually. Then suddenly.”
Can the USWNT avoid the USMNT’s pitfalls? Time will tell. If we embrace the country’s strengths, the ceiling will skyrocket, while unkept promises will only put the US further behind with their goalkeeping.
“I don’t believe there’s one way to play the position,” Loyden says. “You can interpret it in so many ways. The more adaptable you are, the more solutions you have. If we’re not preparing goalkeepers for the demands of ten years from now, that’s a problem. We won’t know what they will look like [in ten years], but if we develop them to be adaptable goalkeepers, they’ll be able to play in that modern game.”