Everybody Soccered - Week 37 (2014)

Cover photo by Alex Livesey at Getty Images.

I was asked to write a short analysis of Notre Dame goalkeeper Pat Wall on MLS Draft Scout's site. I somehow managed to receive the accolade "great goalkeeper evaluator" from Charlie although I don't think that's an official title.

Top NCAA Goalkeepers of the Week

1. Andre Rawls (Sr. - St. Mary's) - Made some crucial saves to pull off the underdog victory at #4 University of Washington's home pitch. A well-earned win for St. Mary's on the road.

2. Adam Grinwis (Sr. - Maryland) - Another unranked school giving a top team some fits. Grinwis, coming off his PDL championship run, helped grab a point against #12 Maryland. Keep an ear out for Grinwis this next MLS draft.

3. Kris Schultz (Jr. - UC Davis) - Extended highlights show Schultz keeping the score at one for UC Davis to hold on for the win against CSU Bakersfield.  Superb 1v1 save at the 3:00 mark.

4. Alec Ferrell (So. - Wake Forest) - Really enjoyed his save (at 1:04) towards the end of the game. Full extension from a looped header aimed at the backpost.

5. Ben Lockler (Sr. - Virginia Tech) - Four chaotic saves against rival UVA but wasn't enough in the 0-1 loss. Still a solid performance

6. Earl Edwards (Sr. - UCLA) - Snagged the play of the game award versus Cal Poly last week. Check out the double save here.

7. Waleed Cassis (Jr. - Buffalo) - Not entirely sure he is American but he did have the best save of the week (at 0:54). Worst case scenario, Canada bolsters their keeper reserve.

8. Wade Hamilton (Jr. - Cal Poly) - Big reaction save in overtime to keep it level against UCLA.

9. Dylan Faber (Jr. - Northeastern) - Another goalkeeper in goal for a 0-1 loss. Six saves and beat by a deflected shot. Not the toughest saves to make but still notable. 

Lead American export Brad Guzan was in goal for Aston Villa during their 1-0 win over Liverpool. The 2004 PDL Goalkeeper of the Year had a pretty quiet day but the victory is still nice to have on the résumé. 

Quentin Westberg was released from Luzenac, along with rest of the first team players. The fate of club as a whole is unclear for the future as they are sitting out this entire season. Westberg had a very honest interview and its translation from French is a little rough. Here's an excerpt from the interview, in response to Luzenac's dissolution...

“It’s just a continuation of the whole affair. When it comes time to help a small amateur club, there’s nobody. Our only crime is not having built a concrete case to the last word. And what is the official reason for the denial? ‘The stadium in which we will play in does not guarantee the safety of fans who will come to see us play.’ It’s a joke. When we know that this stadium is filled every night by supporters of one of the best rugby clubs in Europe, it makes me laugh. There was no real basis in denial. When the club came before the DNCG in June, they did not talk about the stadium, they just said, “Beware of finances.” And once the that was set, they say “Ah, but you did not address the issue of the stadium?””
— Quentin Westberg

Westberg has not been signed by another club as of yet. 

USWNT goalkeeper Hope Solo recently surpassed Briana Scurry with her 72nd shutout, becoming the all-time leader for the women's team. The challenge wasn't that difficult as the US won 8-0 over Mexico but that's not to take away from the record. (For some reference, Kasey Keller, Tim Howard, Tony Meola, and Brad Friedel combined don't have as many as Solo and Scurry together.)

2015 is bringing several changes to MLS. Orlando City and New York City FC are making their debut while Chivas USA has a good chance at taking a break for a year. All-in-all, the stateside American goalkeepers should stay employed, just somewhere else. Paul Tenorio covered who OC has already signed, specifically no goalkeepers. He writes, "The Lions are seeking a veteran keeper to hold down the starting job in MLS" which seems to fit Dan Kennedy pretty well and makes sense. Typically expansion teams aren't going to gamble with a youngster in goal. And with Philadelphia seeming to be planning a future without Zac MacMath, don't be surprised if he ends up in New York.

Yet another Mexican-American goalkeeper is going south. U17 product Abraham Romero has switched alliances, some claiming because of the release of USYNT coach Hugo Perez.

USL's playoffs kicked off this past weekend. Notable performances included the dual-head gear battle in Los Angeles between Brian Perk (Galaxy II) vs John McCarthy (Rochester Rhinos). Highlights of the goalies kick in around the 2:03:44 mark. Other notable goalkeepers in the playoffs include Bradley Stuver, whose season ended with the Wilmington Hammerheads' 4-1 loss to Sacramento, and Ryan Taylor, who advanced to the semis with Richmond Kickers.

Over in NASL action Matt Van Oekel's Minnesota United and Josh Saunder's San Antonio Scorpions are battling it out for the number one spot. Van Oekel returned in early August after an injury has kept him out for most of the season. 

University of Virginia celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the team winning the College Cup in 1989. Tony Meola was amongst the few celebrated both at the UVA soccer and football game last weekend.

Ex-MLS and USMNT goalkeeper Kevin Hartman is now working with IMG Academy as their technical director. The interview covers a lot of topics, including Hartman's playing days as well as vision on the new position.

As Christopher McCollum pointed out, since Phil Saunders has joined BÍ/Bolungarvík they have had a distinct improvement, even escaping relegation territory. Saunders has surrendered six goals in the past six games to help bump BÍ to tenth place in Iceland's second tier.

Josh Lambo is still perfect on the year as Texas A&M's placekicker. He perfectly drilled a 47-yarder for his third field goal on the year and he has almost taken half as many extra points as he did last year.

Everybody Soccered - Week 36 (2014)

On Wednesday, the USMNT travelled to Prague to beat the Czech Republic 1-0. Brad Guzan and Nick Rimando combined for the collective shutout and prompted an absurd from MLS's site. (Last I checked, Rimando was at 60.5%.) While Rimando has superior footwork, Guzan is as good if not better in every category. He's taller, stronger, handles crosses better, catches more instead of swatting at shots, has better 1v1 technique, and can get from post to post quicker. People praise Rimando for his distribution, which, while it is good at times, is such a small part to goalkeeping and not that much better than Guzan's.

Rimando is a really good goalkeeper (it's a unbelievable that he's never won MLS Goalkeeper of the Year) but Guzan is coming into his prime and Rimando is thirty-five. On a side note, Rimando has the longest current streak of undefeated play for the US National Team, at 15 games (13-0-2) and him trading jerseys with Petr Čech after the game does bump up his street cred.

Top NCAA goalkeepers from last week:

  1. Tyler Miller, (Sr. Northwestern) - Set the school record for shutouts at Northwestern with his thirtieth clean sheet.
  2. Conor Leland, (Sr. Vermont) - Hard to follow a career mark like Miller's but Leland stopped a 1v1 and a penalty to preserve Vermont's 2-1 win.
  3. Ben LaCourse, (So. Oral Roberts) - Grabbed a shot out of the air like it was nothing and kept the game at 1-0, sealing Oral Roberts' victory against Missouri State (skip to 2:00).
  4. Chris Knaub, (Jr. Bryant) - Couldn't capture the win for Bryant but still had some good saves in the 3-2 loss against Canisius, including the cover save on the home page.

Moving to the professional game, Los Angeles Galaxy backup Brian Rowe had a needless shutout performance as his team tallied six goals against Colorado last weekend. Rowe is still largely unknown as he's sitting behind Jaime Penedo. Penedo's contract ends this year so don't be surprised if both Rowe and Penedo aren't sharing a locker room next season.

Both of FC Dallas' young, Mexican-American goalkeepers are on the move. Jesse Gonzalez is currently on a trip with the Mexico U20 National Team to China and Richard Sanchez seems to be finally leaving FC Dallas. While the deal was announced back in June that he was going to Tigres, he has been making the gameday bench for FC Dallas since. Sanchez kindly announced his departure on Twitter recently, in more than 140 characters...

“I want to take the time to thank FC Dallas for all that was given to me during my time there. From the people at the front office and the staff upstairs, to the coaches and trainers and kit-men, to my teammates, and all the way to the people that keep the stadium looking spectacular, I want to thank you for your friendship. To the fans and Dallas Guardians I say bye for now as I embark on a new journey with Tigres. Knowing that this beautiful game we call soccer has it’s twists and turns, I’m sure we’ll cross paths in the future!”
— Richard Sanchez

John McCarthy notched ten shutouts with the Rochester Rhinos and earned the team's Rookie of the Year award. McCarthy ended with the lowest GAA in the league and is a strong candidate for Goalkeeper of the Year. The Rhinos take on LA Galaxy II Saturday for the first round of the playoffs.

Josh Wicks has only allowed four goals in his last five games with AFC United. Wicks, who turns 31 in November, is captaining his team in Sweden's third division. AFC sit in first place and are aiming for promotion.

Steve Clark has apparently been doing this "Yes!" chant with some of the fans. I know nothing about it but I've seen about five different videos so I suppose it's somewhat common.

columbuscrew's video on Instagram

Pothunting reminded us that September 3rd was the 41st anniversary of the first American goalkeeper making the cover of Sports Illustrated. Bob Rigby earned six caps for the USMNT and was an unused goalkeeper at the 1972 Olympics. Similarly, keep an eye out for Tim Howard's enlightened face on Howler's sixth publication, out in October. Howard has also spent some time helping FIFA get their goalie gameplay better.

Toney Review

Hey Toney, was watching some of your footwork and I think you would really benefit from mimicking goalkeeper Pat Wall. Pat was the starter for Notre Dame's 2013 championship run, where they beat Maryland (who was starting Zac Steffen in goal at the time). Pat has since retired to go into aerospace engineering, which you can't blame the career move.

So take a look at 2:10, 0:50, 1:17, 1:36, and 1:44. Watch his feet before the shot is taken. They are in a constant, rhythmic motion until the shot is taken, which he then springs out. There is never a pause and the rhythm is consistent until he breaks for the shot. One thing I would change about his approach is the last jumpset goes significantly wider than the previous ones. This is common for goalkeepers and it really limits lateral movement. It's not the worst thing to do but it can really get out of hand, which is what Tim Howard is struggling with now. Notice how wide his stance is.

But the bigger point is that Wall's "hot feet" (I don't know what the technical term is) keep him sharp, ready to explode, and, most importantly, in rhythm to give him the most time to react.

Watching your highlight video (here), your footwork is a little out of sorts. I was actually there watching the filming (you can here me at 0:40) so I remember seeing you then and am glad Eric put this up. Going to the third shot (around 0:10) you have a slowing series of jumpsets that eventually stop you completely, causing you to to take an additional jumpset to get back into it.

While it looks like a good save, you're actually behind the shot. Notice you take three jumpsets. Two before the shot is taken, then you pause for too long. Because you are still for so long, you have to take another jumpset to get the spring back in your legs. All the while, the ball is traveling to you and you are losing time on the shot. Here are some stills to show you footwork.

Seven pictures in all. 

  1. Notice how tall you are here. You are at the peak of your first jumpset.
  2. You have now landed and are about to start your second jumpset. This is a good 6-8 drop, a clear indicator your first jumpset is too much. Textbook "hot feet" doesn't move your upper body hardly at all. You keep your legs moving but your upper body is still for the most part.
  3. You have now landed from your second jumpset, around a 12 inch drop. Your legs are actually more in control here (your heels aren't getting off the ground as high as the first one) but you are needlessly squeezing your body low. Within a second you have moved about a foot and a half down. It's a lot of needless movement and if you don't time it right, like we see here, you are behind the play. Also, since you are staying still for too long, you lose any spring you would have from the second jumpset.
  4. The shot is taken and you are starting your third jumpset to get the spring back.
  5. The ball is about a quarter of the way to you (from starting point to final destination) and you are at the top of your jumpset.
  6. The ball is half way to you and your left foot has finally landed, giving you your first chance of moving your upper body towards the ball. Your right foot is actually still in the air here.
  7. Your right foot has finally landed, allowing you to transfer power and move your upper body towards the ball. This frame is a little behind but you get the idea.

There are some more egregious examples in the video but this one gives us the clearest picture. 0:37 is probably the shot you are the most behind. Try to pause the video to see when your right foot finally hits the ground from the jumpset. Sure, a good shot, but you're not in any position to make a play on it. Again in 0:55, all you can do is watch the shot sail on you because you're behind it.

I know this was from months ago, and only a one minute clip of a few shots, so I don't put a ton of stock into it. However, assuming your jumpset is still the same, you are getting stuck in the mud and losing all spring a jumpset gives you. Because your two jumpsets are so big and out of sync, you must take another jumpset to get the spring back. While you are doing this, you have lost around 50% of your time to move towards the ball. When you do this pre-shot routine, you are taking a shot from eighteen yards out and essentially making it a shot form nine yards out because you must wait on a third jumpset. Now, the ball is halfway to you and this is a reaction save instead of incorporating any more lateral movement. You'll notice you rarely shuffle on any of the shots because your time is so limited.

So there are actually two cues you can pick up on when you should time your final jumpset. We have the obviously visual cue of the striker planting their foot and striking of the ball but we also have the audio cue of the ball being hit. (The latter is very important for when there is a crowd or defender in front of us and our visuals are a little obstructed.)

Apologies if that was a little harsh but just wanted to bring it to your attention. If you get into a specific rhythm with your jumpsets, you will start to really extend your limits of shot stopping. So the next time you are taking shots, really pay attention to your timing. Are you giving yourself the most amount of time to react to the shot? Or are you cutting it in half because your timing is off? There's not a whole not better than making a save that leaves a striker with his hands on his head.

All the best, 

Bill

Everybody Soccered - Week 35

The NCAA soccer season has finally kicked off! Videos are hard to find but I've started collecting the ones I could find on a Big Soccer thread. I'm sure all those links will be dead in a year so enjoy them while they last. Top goalkeepers this past weekend were

1. Grayson Rector - Take note of his lanky, Friedel-like wingspan. Belmont lost 1-0 to South Carolina, but Rector made some great saves to keep it just at one goal allowed.

2. Pat Wall - Named to the IU Classic All-Tournament team, an annual tournament hosted by IU.

3. Jeff Caldwell, Paul Christensen - Two freshmen keepers who started for University of Virginia and Portland University. Not an easy task in itself and they only allowed one goal between them.

Honorable Mention: Tyler Miller picked up an assist in Northwestern's first game. No video but I trust the box score.

There were other goalkeepers that performed well but those were the top three (five) in my book.

Tim Howard has a dismal outing with Everton last weekend, losing 6-3. I say dismal because regardless of what happens it's a awful feeling you get in your stomach when you're scored on six times. The game prompted Tim Hill to blast Howard and almost bring up a really good point but instead he settled for really worn quips to finish the article. If you don't want to read it, Hill brings up the question,  "Is it time for Jurgen Klinsmann to turn to someone else?" He could have provided a little more in-depth analysis on what exactly he was doing that made him a "not great goalkeeper" instead of reaching at buzz words and digging up bad goals Howard allowed over a decade ago. 

Could not locate photographer. Not my photo.

Could not locate photographer. Not my photo.

On a lighter note, Howard had an interview with the Huffington Post and I really enjoyed this quote,

“So the fact that kids are now watching the television and then go out in the backyard and want to be goalkeeper is a cool move.”
— Tim Howard

Klinsmann called in three goalkeepers for the Czech Republic game on Wednesday: Brad Guzan, Nick Rimando, and Cody Cropper. Guzan has started his EPL season to a strong start by only allowing one goal in the first three games. As for the other two, I don't understand the call-ups. Rimando is 35 and while his club has basically solidified their playoff spot, surely there are other options out there that actually have a shot at making the next World Cup. As for Cropper, I can't imagine he'll play. I suppose it's good training for him but couldn't he get the same at his club? There aren't that many European-based American goalkeepers so I guess I give USMNT a pass on this one although it is sending mixed messages to the public. Cropper, still 21, has a long way to go and USMNT call-ups should be used for something more than training grounds.

FC Kansas City topped Seattle Reign FC 2-1 in the NWSL Championship on Sunday. Seattle goalkeeper Hope Solo was caught a little too far forward on both the goals. On the first one, her defender is still in the picture so she doesn't need to leave her six. If she stays back she can force the shooter to make a tougher shot than what she ends up taking. 

The next goal, Solo is sliding up in preparation for the 1v1 but again she takes too many steps. You can see her reeling backwards for the shot.

I'd like to see Solo show a little more patience in both situations although her aggressiveness has worked in the past so I don't fault her.

The U20s are convening for a ten day trip in Argentina. Jeff Caldwell (University of Virginia) and Santiago Castaño (New York Red Bulls) were called in. University of Michigan goalkeeper Evan Louro was on the roster but now he's not. He might have been recalled like some others.

Brad Stuver had to play bodyguard for a teammate a couple of weeks ago. You can skip to 2:25:00 in this video to see a scuffle break out near Stuver and then watch Stuver literally pick his player off the ground and carry him away. Things get even more hectic after that. An assistant coach (ex-goalkeeper Matt Glaeser) kicks a placed corner kick ball away from the opposing team when the ref isn't looking. All the players run off the field to break up the second altercation. Glaeser was later suspended three games for his actions.

A couple of firsts that caught my eye: Joe Nasco finally started an MLS game. He suited up for the Rapids on the 30th. Kyle Zobeck made his first professional appearance with the New York Cosmos after Jimmy Maurer picked up a red card.

Tony Meola is in the running for the Manager position in Philadelphia. It sounds like they're going to wait a while to make a final call on it.

Zac MacMath was awarded the US Open Cup's Player of the Round for his penalty heroics against FC Dallas, propelling the Union to the final. Even if MacMath is on his way out, he's having his best season to date and will have no trouble landing a gig in the US for 2015.

Dual-international William Yarbrough recently broke his right ring finger on the crossbar when he was attempting to make a save. Recovery time is a minimum three weeks. Some good news for American fans, he has still yet to commit to either Mexico's or the US's national team.

Luzenac had their latest appeal to advance into Ligue 2 rejected due to their stadium situation, which was deemed not suitable for Ligue 2. They are having yet another court date soon but who knows if that'll be the last one.

Scott Angevine is relocating within Finland. He wrote a nice message to his old club, Sporting Kristina, before moving to Vasa IFK.

Lastly, Babe Ruth played goalkeeper growing up. Not a huge surprise that Ruth played the position with the least amount of running in it.