The Colorado Rapids goalkeeper remains a significant figure in American soccer culture, even if his best days are well in the past
Goalkeeping was not the Colorado Rapids’ problem this weekend. That is scant consolation regarding a match that was won by Real Salt Lake with goals in the 85th and 88th minutes, but it’s all that’s on offer. On the pitch, Colorado’s problem is still a near pathological aversion to converting chances into goals. With any semblance of competent finishing, they would have quickly dispatched RSL. Instead, the match only offered the Rapids a 90-minute reprieve from thinking about Tim Howard.
Yes, that Tim Howard. The erstwhile US goalkeeper was serving the first leg of his three-game suspension due to what the league termed “foul language directed at a fan” and “an altercation with a fan following the game” during the Rapids’ previous match against Sporting Kansas City. Video of the former incident circulated on Twitter. In typical fashion, the forensic instincts of soccer fandom took over. The exact phraseology remains up for debate, but the statement involved Howard and the fan’s mother. Make of that what you will.
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