WASHINGTON – When a player is called in for a national-team match in his or her hometown, coaches often utter some kind words and warm praise for the local favorite, regardless of his place in the team's hierarchy.
Such was not quite the case for Bill Hamid as the US national team visited RFK Stadium, home of his D.C. United squad, ahead of Tuesday's friendly vs. New Zealand (8 pm ET; ESPN, UniMas).
The 2014 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year got his first US call-up in nearly a year when Jurgen Klinsmann rotated his roster following Friday's 2-0 win at Cuba, and the coach pulled no punches on Monday when asked where Hamid ranked in the USMNT's goalkeeping hierarchy.
“We have a clear ranking when we get together as coaches, when we have our conference calls every Monday, Tuesday and talk to players up and down the flipchart,” said Klinsmann.
“And there right now in that ranking, he's probably around No. 6, 7, because you have Tim Howard, you have Brad Guzan, you have Ethan Horvath, you have William Yarbrough, you have David Bingham, you have Nick Rimando, you have Billy, you have Sean Johnson. We discuss them up and down.”
Klinsmann has repeatedly expressed his disappointment with what he perceives as the failure of his young 'keepers to truly dislodge the trusted veterans at the top of his depth chart. Hamid is undaunted by the blunt messages from the coach, however, and is thrilled with another chance to make an impression on familiar turf.
“It feels good to be healthy and be playing well and be back in this environment, around these guys,” Hamid said just before Monday afternoon's training session at RFK. “It's a very cutthroat environment, it's a very high level and I've been thinking about it since I came back from injury.
“Now I'm talking about working my way back up that ladder and continue proving that I'm capable of being a national-team goalkeeper. What I want to be is the No. 1 goalkeeper for the national team, so now it's all about working my way back up that ladder and keeping myself in this environment.”
Klinsmann admitted that he leans on the observations of US goalkeepers coach Russell Payne – himself a DC-area native – when evaluating his options at that particular position.
“We're monitoring all our players, no matter what position. The goalkeeper position is a bit unique because you need to talk a lot to your goalkeeper coach about all the little details that they see,” said Klinsmann on Hamid. “And Billy has always been in the pool, he's always been under observation. We monitor his ups, we monitor his downs.”
The starting netminder for the 2012 Olympic squad that fell short of the London Summer Games, Hamid's name is often mentioned in discussions of top American goalkeepers and he made his senior US debut more than four years ago.
But a range of injuries have sidetracked his progress at international level, most recently when a knee problem required surgery that forced him to withdraw from the USMNT's January camp and miss out on the first three months of the MLS season.
“You get hurt and you have to take a step back. Things happen,” Hamid said. “I understand that, I understand [Klinsmann's] message. You have to stay healthy and sometimes you can't necessarily do that. So now, I just have to work my way up that ladder, on that depth chart. And I'm OK with that. I welcome that, and I'm excited for that. Because I know what I'm capable of, I know what I can do, how well I can perform and I know that I will be back up there as soon as I can."
