ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JUNE 23: Matt Turner of United States gestures during the CONMEBOL Copa America … [+] 2024 Group C match between United States and Bolivia at AT&T Stadium on June 23, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
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Matt Turner’s decision-making on Panama’s game winning goal was put under scrutiny.
The U.S. men’s national team’s stunning, excruciating and frustrating 1-0 loss to Panama in the Concacaf Nations League semifinals on Thursday night raised several concerns and worries.
That included the team’s lack of creativity, it’s lack of passion, it’s inability to defeat the Panamanians three times in the last nine months on home soil and brining up a nagging goalkeeping problem to the forefront.
Should Matt Turner continue as the No. 1 keeper, even though he isn’t the regular goalie for Crystal Palace in the English Premier League?
The 31-year-old native of Park Ridge, N.J. earned his spurs with superb performances with the New England Revolution before venturing to England in 2022. He couldn’t break into the Starting XI with Arsenal and was used sparingly with Nottingham Forest. This season he was loaned to Crystal Palace, where is he primarily used in the Carabao Cup and F.A. Cup. Those games, however, are spaced far apart.
For a national team goalie, that is not the best tonic to stay at the top of one’s game.
Soccer: Closeup of former USA goalie Tony Meola during game vs Brazil during International Friendly … [+] at FedEx Field. Landover, MD 5/30/2012 CREDIT: Carlos M. Saavedra (Photo by Carlos M. Saavedra /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X154945 TK1 R2 F8 )
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Tony Meola breaks down the game-winning goal
During the post-game telecast, Paramount+ analyst and former USMNT goalkeeper Tony Meola talked about the most important part of a goalkeeper’s game.
“I go back to and I’m going to say this until we get to the World Cup is sharpness, sharpness, sharpness, sharpness,” he said.
Meola knows something or two about goalkeeping.
A National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee, Meola backstopped two World Cups (1990 and 1994) and was a reserve on a third team (2002). He earned 100 caps for the national team. He also was the 2000 Major League Soccer MVP and earned similar honors while leading the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City) to the MLS Cup championship that year.
He has been through the grind and a myriad of situations.
When a game is tied late in a match, every play and every decision becomes so much more vital and put under the microscope.
Case in point: Cecilio Walterman’s game-winning goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
Meola talked about the little nuances during the scoring sequence that was replayed for the audience. Waterman, some 16 yards out on the right side of the penalty area, deposited the ball into the lower left corner just past the outstretched right hand of Turner. Meola felt that Turner should have taken another step from the goal to cut down the angle.
“I look at the angle that Matt Turner took,” he said. “I looked at the distance of the shot, where that shot was taken from. Okay, it was a little bit of pace. There’s no doubt about that. I don’t want to take anything away from the goal scorer, but in this moment … Matt Turner is a little bit tucked in near that in that near post. I had a perfect angle from my vantage point here. Just a little bit of a hop, just before he takes that. So, his feet aren’t planted. He doesn’t have some explosion to his right.
“At the end of the day, in a moment like this, and I’m not I’m not blaming Matt Turner, but those are moments where you have to find a way. Just like a forward in the end, like [Patrick] Agyemang has to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net. Josh Sargent has to find a way. A goalkeeper on the other end of the field has to find a way to make a save.”
Meola later added: “The toughest thing for a goalkeeper is when you have nothing to do and then all of a sudden you have something to do. That’s the sharpness in the end. When you’re training every day, it’s a rhythm. You’ve got five, six, seven shots in a row. You’re finding timing. Now it’s one moment in time. And again, this is not blaming Matt Turner. I look at it from a goalkeepers’ lens. If I’m the goalkeeper coach, what do I now tell my goalkeeper to go back and correct?”
It’s those close margins that decide games, especially at the elite international level.
An impressive history of elite USMNT goalkeepers
PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – JUNE 18: Tim Howard of USA shouts instructions during the FIFA … [+] Confederations Cup match between USA and Brasil at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on June 18, 2009 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)
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Tim Howard backstopped the USMNT in two World Cups.
At one time, the U.S. goalkeeping situation was the envy of the planet as the national side had several quality shot-stoppers playing regularly at home and abroad.
There was serious competition for the starting job. In the beginning, Meola and Kasey Keller battled for the starting role. Then Brad Friedel entered the picture. Then Tim Howard came of age. There were a host of other talented keepers. That included the likes of Brad Guzan and Nick Rimando, who played at home or across the Atlantic Ocean but never got an opportunity to perform regularly for the U.S. because of their aforementioned rivals.
Turner became the latest in the line of succession, starting at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar before falling out of favor with his club coaches.
When the EPL season ends in May, Turner will need to decide whether to find a team to play with on a regular basis, whether it is in MLS or Europe.
During a Zoom press conference on Monday, March 17, Turner addressed his lack of playing time with Crystal Palace.
“I understand that my club situation right now isn’t the best, so I have to maybe make some changes in that department if I want to play more consistently,” he said. “But again, if I just continue to control the things that I can play well when I have the chances with the U.S, I’ll be happy with the hat I can put into the ring.”
Who will Pochettino start in the third-place match?
As for more immediate concerns, Sunday’s third-place match against Canada (Paramount+, Univision, 6 p.m. ET), Pochettino needs to decide whether to play Turner or one of his two reserve keepers, Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids) or Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew).
It might be wise to give Steffens or Schulte an opportunity and let Turner know there is competition for his job. Sometimes a little pressure can be the best motivator.
Meola certainly thought so.
“I mean, it’s a third-place game. I think you’ve got to give guys opportunities,” he said. “If the messaging is there’s someone breathing down your neck, that’s the messaging you got to give the player. If the messaging is ‘I just need to give a guy a chance, then that’s the messaging. Hey, we’re okay. You gave up a goal. You’re our guy.’ But I’ve got to give somebody else an opportunity. So, it’s a matter of how Pochettino wants to handle it.”
