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| Tim Howard did all he could to save the United States in a 2-1 loss to Belgium. Credit Jamie Mcdonald/Getty Images |
When United States goalkeeper Tim Howard knocked down shot after shot in Tuesday’s game against Belgium — recording 16 saves, the most in a World Cup match in almost 50 years — the viewing experience wasn’t at all like watching LeBron James score 60 points or Peyton Manning drill a pass through three defenders for a last-second touchdown.
No, it was better than that. It was sweeter than that. It’s partly why so many children, after hearing the roar of the crowd with every spectacular save, now want to be goalkeepers when they grow up.
Forget “I want to be like Mike,” or Venus and Serena, or Tiger. America has fallen in love with someone new, and something new, and sporting goods stores will stock up on goalie uniforms if they know what’s good for them.
Watching Howard during the game, my 2-year-old daughter even said, “I want to do that!” and insisted that she would be a goalkeeper someday, even at the expense of surrendering her tutus.
Serious stuff. Howard did all he could to save his team in a 2-1 loss to Belgium, but he may ultimately have a much larger role: as a game-changer for soccer in the United States.
Why? The answer is simple. Timothy Matthew Howard, a 35-year-old keeper from central New Jersey and a son of a truck driver, elicited more cheers than perhaps any other player in this World Cup for singlehandedly holding off Belgium for most of the game. At a very basic level, he was out there on his own, sacrificing his body to protect his country when the other lines of defense had caved in.
And Americans love that kind of stuff, don’t they?
Belgium was trying to sink the United States with relentless attacks, and Howard, a mortal turned superhero in cleats, had fans’ hearts beating loudly, like freight trains, and bursting with joy. He knocked away shots with his hands, his feet, his legs and his chest — and probably, as his legend grows, every last strand of hair in his dark, long beard, too.
Fans held their collective breath, then exhaled with his every save, and you could almost hear the country erupt in relief and support: Tim Howard for president! Well, at least that’s what the Internet was saying.
Casual sports fans — and there are fewer and fewer unfamiliar with the national team anymore — most likely didn’t know Tim Howard from Ron Howard before Tuesday’s game. But as the contest wore on, the entire World Wide Web was getting to know him, the newest great American.
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