COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – Attacking players generally get all the love when it comes to marquee matchups. But some of the best goalkeeping in MLS will be on display when Tim Howard and the Colorado Rapids face Nick Rimando and Real Salt Lake in this Friday’s Rocky Mountain Cup showdown (8 pm ET; UniMás in US, MLS LIVE in Canada).
For Howard, it will renew a rivalry which has been brewing for two decades between himself and Rimando, his former roommate from his US youth national team days.
“I think there’s been a rivalry for quite a long time,” Howard said this week. “We’re the same age and competed alongside each other as one and two for a long time with the youth national teams up until the U-23s.”
Rimando most recently beat out Howard when fans named the RSL ‘keeper as the best in MLS history in MLSsoccer.com’s all-time best goalkeeper bracket. Howard wholeheartedly agreed with the results.
“What I think is that he’s the greatest goalkeeper in MLS history,” Howard said. “I think that has nothing to do with anyone’s opinion of anything. His longevity and his records and his numbers speak for themselves.”
Because while there’s a rivalry, there’s also a shared respect between the two.
“He is a dear friend of mine,” Howard added. “I’ve known him since we were 17. We were roommates together for five or six years.”
“We have tremendously different styles, but I think they’re each very effective,” Howard added. “His works for him and mine works for me. There’s so many technical aspects of the game that we do differently that it would probably take a manual to explain that. The easy similarities are that we both are very good reactionary goalkeepers. For our age, we haven’t lost a step in our quickness and reaction, so that’s a good thing.”
While Howard's talent has never been questioned, Rimando has often had to work hard to earn the respect of outsiders, largely because he's not a prototypical goalkeeper when it comes to stature. The RSL ‘keeper has alluded to the fact that, at 5-foot-10, he’s been sold short when it comes to professional opportunities.
“He probably is still disrespected in a very stupid way,” said Howard. “Size means nothing when you’re as talented as Nick is.”
Rimando has shown that talent against Colorado time and time again, particularly at Rio Tinto Stadium. In the two teams’ previous matchup in Sandy, Utah, this season, Rimando blanked the Rapids in a 1-0 RSL win.
In the team’s lone match at Rio Tinto last season, Rimando kept another clean sheet in a 0-0 draw which saw Rapids midfielder Dillon Powers miss a late penalty opportunity. Powers took flack for the miss, but Rimando holds a psychological edge in PK situations that no MLS goalkeeper can match.
Even Howard couldn’t quite put his finger on what makes Rimando so good at stopping penalties.
“Nick has his own style and theory which works for him, which is very good and effective,'' Howard said. "I think the problem with that is it’s specific to him, so it’s hard for other goalkeepers to mimic that. Penalties are a crap shoot, and he seems to have a formula that works for him. Again, it’s his secret, and I’m sure he’s not going to let that out of the bag.”
