Today, Tim Howard bottled it. No ifs, ands, or buts, he bottled it. No excuse for his poor performance today for the Toffees. Yes, Lukaku missed chances, but that shouldn't have mattered. We should be talking about a pretty drab, routine 2-0 win today over bottom of the table Leicester at home, but we're not. Over in Birmingham, it doesn't seem like Brad Guzan's doing that well, either for Villa.
So, that got me to thinking about the state of American goalkeeping in the Premier League, and the future of it. I feel that as Howard and Guzan eventually retire, there will be less Americans between the sticks overall after they retire in due course. That may be because the Bundesliga is becoming more trusting of American signings (example is former UMD goalkeeper Zach Steffen signing for Freiburg). The only other American goalkeeper in the Premier League is Cody Cropper, and, according to his player profile on the Southampton web site, "He has established himself as one of the regular goalkeepers in the Under-21 side during his time with Saints, as well as being involved with the first-team on matchdays and away trips." In the 2014-15 U21 Premier League season, he has not appeared in their last 3 games, and he has not even been included in their bench. So, without too much to go off of, I think he needs to leave and get some first-team football to further his development. I don't care if he goes to a club that's worse at developing players through a youth system, if he plays first-team football, that's better than most youth academies the world over.
So, I ask you: are American goalkeepers in the Premier League doomed, or are they just on hiatus? For me, it's not looking too good right now.
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