Internationally, Howard won two Gold Cups and appeared in two World Cups across 121 caps. Soccer Athlete of the Year honors twice and Concacaf's Men's Goalkeeper of the Year three times. He won MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2001, earned a PFA Premier League Team of the Year place in 2003-04, took U.S. He made 399 Premier League appearances and another 182 so far in MLS. Perhaps the greatest keeper the United States has produced, Howard is calling time on his illustrious career. Tim Howard last season | USA Today Sports Images To be able to have experienced all of those as a player is pretty darn special.” From all of the fans, stadiums, new teams, massive global players-it’s night and day. “We talk about how this game has grown, it’d incredible," Howard said. Meanwhile, Major League Soccer didn't look much like he left it. By the time he returned to MLS and the Rapids in 2016, he was a legend on the Blue half of Merseyside. After up-and-down stretches at Old Trafford, he moved to Everton in 2006. Howard departed six years later in a trailblazing transfer to Manchester United and the glory of the Premier League. ![]() “We walked in and there was those metal cage lockers and wooden benches like you had in high school," Howard said with a smile, his voice beaming with nostalgia. "I appreciate coming from those humble beginnings and being here 21 years later seeing the fruits of the labor from this league. Players were responsible for replacing their own divots. The locker room was part of an old academic building, a big parking lot away from a bumpy grass field which got dry when warm and muddied when wet. Howard and the MetroStars trained at Kean University, a Division III program in Union, New Jersey, a far cry from the Red Bulls' facility in Hanover today. Not only by way of players and stadiums but training facilities, too. In its infancy, MLS then wasn't quite what it is now. Howard's professional career kicked off in 1997 as an 18-year-old with the North Jersey Imperials of the USISL before joining the MetroStars a year later. It wasn't the most glamorous decision from the start, though. I probably could have played college ball somewhere small on the East Coast, but I think I made the right decision.” Sports, yes, but more than anything, it taught me brotherhood. "Taught me a lot of lessons about friendship, life and loyalty. “I cherish those moments, it’s some of the greatest sporting moments I’ve had," Howard said. Still, he says basketball is his first true love and recalls his times with the high school team as part of what shaped him. how far I could go in basketball, it was no competition.” "I had thoughts of how good I was at basketball, but I wasn’t really that good. ![]() “Soccer picked me," Howard said proudly with no hesitation. Howard grew up in central New Jersey, where his athleticism shined in both soccer and basketball. Tim Howard with the MetroStars in 2001 | Courtesy of New York Red Bulls Those who pursued playing in goal because of him, or who became Evertonians, or who are influenced to make the journey to Red Bull Arena to see one of the state's greatest athletes and ambassadors. ![]() If not? That’s okay too.”īut that doesn't lessen the impact he's had on the state's soccer community, on the one-time children who are now adults who played soccer because of him. ![]() "I got some lazy friends who will call me Friday," Howard jokes.ĭespite those friendly faces, Howard isn't expecting any sort of rousing ovation from the Red Bull faithful. “I don’t expect a warm reception anywhere I go, I learned that a long time ago," Howard said with a laugh. "If they do, that’s great. Howard already knows of about 50 family and friends who will be in the stands, though the former Manchester United netminder expects a few more to hit him with late ticket requests. I wouldn’t have it any other way, New Jersey is special. I haven’t lived there in a while but I was born and raised there. “I’m a proud New Jersey native, no doubt," Howard told on Wednesday. "I got some Jersey tattoos. Though the North Brunswick native hasn't lived in his state since departing the MetroStars to begin his English Premier League career in 2003, there's nothing quite like coming home. Howard long had this fixture circled on his farewell tour - the 40-year-old pointed to this game as the one road trip he was most looking forward to after announcing his retirement in January. On Saturday, one last time as a professional soccer player, Tim Howard is going home.Īgainst the club that gave him his MLS debut, then known as the MetroStars, the Colorado Rapids' goalkeeper and US soccer legend returns to his home state of New Jersey to take on the New York Red Bulls (7 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in the US and on DAZN in Canada).
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