Lion In Winter

Tim Howard: Colorado’s World Cup Hero

Story and photos by Reid Neureiter

Special to the GPHN

     The World Cup is over and France is World Champion of soccer (or football as the rest of the world calls it). The month-long tournament captivated audiences both around the world and in Colorado. Sadly, the United States failed to qualify for the 2018 edition of the tournament, which concluded July 15 with France’s thrilling 4-2 victory over surprise finalist Croatia.

Regardless of the disappointment over the USA Men’s National Team’s embarrassing elimination, Colorado does have a World Cup hero of its own who regularly takes the field at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. That player is Tim Howard, goalkeeper and captain of Major League Soccer’s Colorado Rapids, and former goalkeeper for the USA Men’s National Team. Howard joined the Rapids midway through the 2016 season and has been the team’s starting keeper ever since.

The 39-year old has an unsurpassed pedigree as a top-level soccer goalkeeper. He also serves as a role model for thousands of young people for having overcome disabilities to reach his high level. Howard has both Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (“OCD”) and Tourette’s Syndrome (“TS”), and he attributes some of his laser-like focus on the soccer field to his neurological conditions.

Capped 121 times

Originally from New Jersey, Howard began his career with the MLS’s Metrostars, before making a 2003 move to the most famous soccer team in the world, Manchester United.

Howard played 77 games for Manchester United, winning the Professional Footballers’ Association Goalkeeper of the Year award, before making a 2006 move to Everton. Howard played 10 years for Everton as its starting goalkeeper, playing 414 total games, and recording 132 “clean sheets” or shutouts, over that span. While at Manchester United and Everton, Howard played with and against many of the international stars of the game.

Beyond his experience playing for professional clubs in England, Howard has also played the most games ever as goalkeeper of the USA Men’s National Team, having been “capped” 121 times. (An appearance for the national team is called a “cap,” after the English tradition of giving an actual cap to national team players for each game played.)

From 2002 to 2017, Howard was a regular with team USA, becoming first choice keeper in 2006. Howard played in both the 2010 and 2014 editions of the World Cup. And in Brazil in 2014, Howard made a record 15 saves in the USA’s 2-1 overtime loss to Belgium.

Howard was universally praised for his remarkable performance, without which the USA would not have extended the game to extra-time. But in his 2014 autobiography, The Keeper, Howard wrote “I’d have given up World Cup history in a nanosecond if we could have made it through to the quarterfinals.”

Really good at hyperfocusing

Howard has also been praised for his work off the field with children with Tourette’s Syndrome. TS is sometimes thought of as a condition that causes unintentional or inappropriate cursing. But that is a rare manifestation of the disorder, which in Howard, like most people with TS, shows itself with involuntary jerking of the head, tics or twitches of the facial muscles, including involuntary grunting, coughing or clearing of the throat.

According to Howard’s biography, when he was first diagnosed with OCD and TS at age 11, the prescient physician told Howard’s mother that he believed there was “a flipside” to the conditions. The doctor had “noticed a lot of kids with OCD and TS are really good at hyperfocusing—at staying with a task until they’ve perfected it.” Howard attributes some of his success on the soccer field to the “flipside” of his conditions.

Howard has worked closely with children with TS. He is involved with the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome, which hosts the Tim Howard Leadership Academy, a program designed to develop self-leadership, advocacy skills, and resilience in teens with TS and its associated disorders.

Move to the Rapids

Howard’s 2016 move to the Rapids was not without controversy. His contract with the Rapids pays him a reported $2.5 to $2.8 million annually for a three-and-a-half year deal. A 2016 article on the sports website SBNation noted that at $2.8 million per year, Howard’s annual pay would be more than the starting pay of all the other 22 starting goalkeepers in major league soccer, combined.

Howard’s first season with the Rapids was a success. Although he joined the club midway through the 2016 season, the Rapids finished 2nd in the Western Conference and 2nd overall in the regular season – their best season ever, ultimately falling in the Western Conference finals to the Seattle Sounders.

But the 2017 season and the current 2018 season have been much less successful. The Rapids finished second to last in the Western Conference in 2017. This year has been equally difficult, with the Rapids rebuilding their roster under new head coach, Englishman Anthony Hudson. As of July 17, the Rapids had won only four of 19 matches and were near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

But in his 40th year, Howard’s competitive fire is as apparent as ever on the field, as was demonstrated during a June 23 home match against expansion team Minnesota United. The Rapids fell behind twice in the game, with the defense giving up a second goal that Howard vociferously argued should have been ruled out for offsides. But the Rapids came back with an equalizing goal in the 74th minute by Joe Mason, and a game-winning score by Tommy Smith in the seventh minute of extra-time to register their first win since the middle of April.

If you want to see one of the all-time greats of American soccer, a true World Cup hero, go watch Howard play. The Rapids have home matches against the LA Galaxy on Saturday, Aug. 4, and against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday Aug. 11.