Tim Howard Added For USMNT Friendlies
By Sean Maslin
The self-imposed exile is over: Tim Howard is back with the United States Men’s National Team. After announcing that he was willing to return to the side in early August USMNT Jurgen Klinsmann made it official on Thursday adding the 36-year old goalkeeper for the team’s upcoming series of friendlies.
The USMNT will be taking on Peru on September the 4th at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. and Brazil on September the 8th at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The Peru match will be shown on Fox Sports 1 and UNiMAS while the Brazil match will be shown on ESPN and UNiMAS.
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In addition to Howard, Klinsmann also announced that left-back DaMarcus Beasley will also make his return for the two friendlies. Beasley, who plays for the Houston Dynamo, has retired twice from international duty over the past year but once again appears to be willing to suit up for the red, white, and blue.
Howard, 36, has been on a break with the USMNT since the 2014 World Cup. Although there were questions as to whether or not he would actually return for Klinsmann’s side it appears that he is still interested in playing for the national team. Since these matches do fall on the FIFA international calendar he will not miss any time with his club team Everton.
The question now is where he does figure in terms of the team’s goalkeeping situation. On Thursday Klinsmann made it clear that incumbent Brad Guzan will retain his starting role saying, “Tim has accepted for the time being to be the number two, and then down the road there will be a fight for the number one spot like in every position.”
Guzan, 30, has served as the USMNT’s main starter since the end of the World Cup and for the most part has done a serviceable job. But given the level of reverence that Howard has with the USMNT one has to wonder how much longer he will have his starting spot.
As with many things these days with the USMNT the October 9th CONCACAF playoff match against Mexico will provide many clues as to where this situation is going. Should Guzan pull off a quality performance against EL Tri and helped the U.S. qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup then one could see Guzan having the edge coming into World Cup Qualification. But an uneven performance could open up the starting spot in the lead-up to 2015.
What will also be interesting to see is where the goalkeepers rank now with Howard’s return. Both Bill Hamid (D.C. United) and William Yarbrough (Leon) have been considered future starting goalkeepers for the USMNT but are likely now to be dropped to the third spot. This is of course assuming that Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) is done with USMNT duty.
In the end, the Howard addition should help the USMNT. He is still one of the top goalkeepers in the Premier League and has long since proven that he can play at an international level. Competition between the two can only benefit the USMNT ahead of a very important match in October.