MIAMI – After years of stability at the position, goalkeeper has become one of the bigger question marks facing the US national team ahead of this summer’s Copa America Centenario.
Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has rotated longtime internationals Tim Howard and Brad Guzan in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, starting both twice in the US’s four matches this round. He didn’t explicitly say so when he spoke to media earlier this week from USMNT camp in Miami, but conventional wisdom would indicate that the rotation will end in the Copa, with Klinsmann likely to pick one ‘keeper to man the net once the US kicks off the tournament on June 3.
Just who that goalkeeper will be, however, is an open question.
Howard was the USMNT’s clear cut No. 1 for the better part of 10 years and has significantly more international experience than Guzan. He has 107 caps to Guzan’s 42, and started for the US in the 2009 Confederations Cup, 2010 World Cup, 2011 Gold Cup and 2014 World Cup.
But the 37-year-old opened the door a bit for Guzan following the last World Cup, when he took a year-long break from national team duty. Guzan, 31, became the starter in Howard’s absence, playing in all six of the USMNT’s matches in last summer’s Gold Cup and starting the CONCACAF Cup loss to Mexico in October.
Both Howard and Guzan are now in Miami for the USMNT’s transition camp following the end of their club seasons last weekend. Both experienced somewhat down years for their lofty standards, with Howard, who will join the Colorado Rapids after the Copa America, suffering an injury and losing his starting job at Everton in January and Guzan bouncing in and out of the lineup and ending the year on the bench for relegated Aston Villa.
Klinsmann hasn’t yet given Howard or Guzan any indication of his plan for this summer, leaving both to prepare for any and all possibilities for the Copa America.
“The manager makes the decisions, that’s no different than any other time,” Howard said on Thursday. “So for me, I’m not really that concerned with any decisions that are getting made. I don’t make them, I can’t concern myself with them. I want to be a part of this team between now and certainly the end of [the 2018 World Cup], but that’s going to take many different shapes between now and then. I just keep pushing as hard as I can and do what I can. Jurgen will make those decisions.”
The duo has been training together in Miami with young goalkeeper Zack Steffen – one of seven players not included on the USMNT’s preliminary Copa roster invited to the transition camp – since the USMNT convened on Tuesday. As usual, Howard and Guzan, friends who talk regularly during their English club seasons, are helping each other along, even as the uncertainty over who will start in the Copa looms.
Klinsmann told reporters on Tuesday that he’ll have “good talks” with Howard and Guzan in the coming days. Those conversations hadn’t happened as of Thursday morning, and, with the US set to play three friendlies before their Copa opener against Colombia on June 3, could conceivably not be held for two more weeks.
Regardless of whether Klinsmann picks Howard, Guzan or some combination of both, the manager faces more uncertainty in net than at any other time in his tenure.
“It’s up to the manager, it’s up to Jurgen to make that decision,” Guzan said. “If your name and number is called, then you contribute in any way you can with trying to play well, make a few saves and help the guys in front of you get a result. So we’ll leave that up to the manager.”
