Where’s The Kiddie Pool?

Hmm, I probably shouldn't be looking that way for the ball...

If you look at around MLS, perhaps the biggest negative change between the present day league and the early days is a lack of young American goalkeepers. If Paul Simon wrote songs about soccer, he might be asking “where have you gone, Brad Friedel?”

Of course the answer to that is England where the USA’s 2002 netminder helped Villa earn their first ever Europa League berth. (Like how I did that? Sure, the Europa League will be born this fall so everyone is going for the first time, but that fact sounds that much better than qualifying for Europe again.) Friedel’s also mentoring the most recent American ‘keeper, Brad Guzan, to head to Europe.

But El Guzano’s departure was really the last hope. At least for now.

There are four keepers in MLS currently allowing less than a goal per game. Three of the four are relative surprises. The foursome is all-time MLS GAA leader Pat Onstad (Houston), Jamaican Donovan Ricketts (Los Angeles), former U.S. international Kasey Keller (Seattle), and MLS journeyman Zach Thornton (Chivas). Onstad’s always going to be in this mix, but that Ricketts is backstopping a previously porous Galaxy backline, Keller as an MVP candidate in leading expansion Seattle to second in the West, and Thornton making save after save for injury riddled Chivas USA are all bigger shocks than Orlando stealing game one in Cleveland last night.

Of the two Americans, Thornton’s the relative youngster at 35. So what are the up and coming choices around the league? Let’s take a look:

Nick Rimando in Salt Lake? Chris Seitz is the better long-term prospect, but while the Maryland product is a good shot stopper, he isn’t a complete keeper -- he doesn’t control his box and his positioning is questionable at times -- as he showed before going down with an injury putting RSL in dire straights.

The Danny Cepero/Jon Conway duo in New York? Please. Matt Reis and Brad Knighton are another duo up I-95, but one’s on the downside of his career while Reis is old.

As a quick aside, a question often posed by my boy Kevin, how much better would Matt Reis’s career have been if not for Kevin Hartman? Reis was behind the Golden Bleached Blonde Boy at UCLA and with the Galaxy before finally moving to a starting role with the Revs. Add another five years of fulltime MLS experience and he might be considered the best all time in the league.

As for others currently in the league: Jon Busch in Chicago? Ray Burse, Jr. in Dallas? Matt Pickens in Colorado? Hartman in Kansas City? Joe Cannon in San Jose? They all have issues with the latter two not having age on their side.

William Hesmer is probably the best answer. But he doesn’t seem as much of a lock as Guzan or Howard was. You have to wonder how much of last season’s success was based on the solid defense playing in front of him; this year the defense has suffered injuries, and thus, so have Hesmer’s numbers.

On the national team level this isn’t a problem with Tim Howard the long-term answer for Bob Bradley. I’d say either Keller or Friedel should get a call if T-Ho went down with a major injury. But this is akin to Brazil not producing a young goalscorer like Pato. “The Duck” may not star at South Africa in 2010, but you know he will at Brazil ’14 and beyond. Who is that keeper for America?

No, Guzan isn’t the answer. Neither is former D.C. backstop Troy Perkins up in Norway. And I don’t think that guy will come from MLS, unless Stefan Frei gains a U.S. passport. There are other options abroad with Dominic Cervi getting new life at Celtic and Quentin Westberg in France’s Ligue 2.

But what was once a position of strength and incredible depth -- just as Jurgen Summer -- is now fairly shallow.

Other stuff

- Gotta give props to my new favorite Bundesliga player. Sorry Steve Cherundolo and Michael Bradley. Hertha’s Pal Dardai bought beers for all those in attendance for the season closer against Schalke after more than 55k showed up for five straight games. Kenny Cooper could offer the same deal if more than 7,500 showed up for five straight at Pizza Hut Park. (Thanks to DuNord for the link.)

- Speaking of beer in Dallas, apparently the newly coined Red Stripes -- apparently Hoops wasn’t selling the team, so they changed to improve attendance, or something like that -- are offering $1 beers at a happy hour prior to this weekend’s game. Well, this is a step up from 10k free Drew Carey glasses. Which makes me think a better tie in for Drew Carey would’ve been $1 beers and $5 lap dances.

- The boys over at The Original Winger bring up a good point. Cristiano Ronaldo is set to re-up with Nike. Does that make his chances to stay with Man U better than a move to adidas sponsored Real? As a commenter notes, Becks adidas deal helped him move to Madrid, and I’m sure it had a wee bit to do with MLS becoming all adidas just before his arrival in America. Smart business from The Swoosh. Though I’d love to see CRon in La Liga and what Sir Alex would do to replace him. Franck Ribery is the obvious answer, but I don’t see him impacting games in the same way (both positively and negatively).

- Kudos to United for getting into the U.S. Open Cup proper. A 5-3 shellacking ended New York’s chance at their first real trophy -- winning a conference, specifically one you aren’t in, doesn’t count -- and showed a vast difference in depth between the two sides. Well, at least attacking depth as apparently neither side really played defense.

- As a follow up to something I finished with a couple of weeks ago, the idea of athletes from other sports playing soccer, it’s really best served (pun intended) as a bar debate. Certainly not a full-blown column. Though can you imagine adding Dwight Howard to our goalkeeping pool?

-- Pat Walsh