Fresh off another week of MLS action, ISN columnist Philippe Chauveau continues his rating of MLS goalkeepers. Chauveau, a former collegiate keeper himself, will be completing this weekly column so ISN readers gain a better understanding of the goalkeeping profession.
Save of the Week: Andre Blake vs. Seattle Sounders’ Andreas Ivanschitz
Mistake of the Week: No bad blunders from goalies this week!
1. David Bingham
He didn’t have the best of games against Portland, but what is perhaps his best quality is the confidence that he instills in his defense and teammates. All shots that he should hold on to, he does. He keeps his defense feeling safe, since they know there is someone behind them to save them if they let anything through. Also, things got a little heated in San Jose, and I like how he came out of his box to confront Diego Valeri.
2. David Ousted
Vancouver isn’t clicking like it was last year, but Ousted is firing at all cylinders right now. For the past two weeks, there hasn’t been a single moment of a game where Ousted doesn’t look in control – in addition, he’s been adding a few incredible saves to his highlight reel.
3. Andre Blake
Andre Blake is a monster. Easily the goalkeeper with the most upside in the MLS right now, he is the main reason that the Union are competitive. He did misread the ball that led to Jordan Morris’ first professional goal, so he was badly positioned and left Morris the entire near post but he also had a few big saves, where he demonstrated his whole repertoire. That includes our Save of the Week as Andreas Ivanschitz hit a powerful shot from inside the box, and Blake dove right and somehow got a paw on it to re-direct over the crossbar.
4. Nick Rimando
Real Salt Lake won again at home, and a large part of it was due to Rimando. One more time Rimando had a few 1 on 1 saves, always coming out of the goal with extreme bravery, but he also showed why he used to be a USMNT keeper as he held a couple of tricky shots from outside the box.
5. Luis Robles
The second “Snow Classico” got the best of the Red Bulls, but not of Luis Robles. Goalkeeping in the snow is hard for so many different reasons, such as a harder, heavier ball, and a slicker surface for the ball to travel even faster. Robles had his best game this season, coming out of the goal with authority on most occasions. He also had a fantastic save off a header, diving low to his left against his momentum.
6. Bobby Shuttleworth
Shuttleworth was a part of the most controversial game of the round and of this young MLS season. He mostly drops due to Rimando’s and Robles’ good games, since he wasn’t at fault for goals and made a few athletic saves.
7. Stefan Frei
Another goalie who mostly just stood around, Frei climbs up due to Tim Melia’s poor week. He wasn’t to keep the clean sheet but did enough to help his team clinch the win at home.
8. Chris Seitz
It seems that Seitz has officially taken over the position at FC Dallas. He had another good week with the team, and his positioning is becoming to show as his true strength. He did come out rather wildly in the last minute of the game against SKC and had to be saved by Walker Zimmerman on the goal line, so that keeps him from rising even a little higher.
9. Tim Melia
A week to forget for Tim Melia. In the first game against the Rapids, Melia was poorly positioned and reacted really late to a shot by Gashi that hit the crossbar and led to Colorado’s winning goal. Then, against FC Dallas, Melia failed to stand big at his near post and a Michael Barrios shot that was straight at him trickled in through his hands.
10. Brian Rowe
Rowe continues to hold down the fort for LA Galaxy. With no major blunders to speak of and impressive athletic saves to his name, he keeps rising in the rankings.
11. Evan Bush
Bush did not have much work this week, and he rises due to Josh Saunders’ and Adam Kwarasey’s poor performances. His lack of assertiveness in crosses continues to be an issue though.
12. Josh Saunders
Columbus had NYCFC’s number all night long, so Crew SC attackers were constantly in Saunders’ grill. The problem was that he did not do a good job weathering the storm, and I expect a goalie of his experience to calm his defenders down.
13. Adam Kwarasey
Kwarasey joins Melia as the worst performers of the week. Kwarasey got chipped twice by Fabian Castillo, and one of the two led to a goal. Kwarasey looked like he had cinderblocks for feet in this game. He hasn’t been able to move well all year and it seems like opposing players have figured out that the only way to beat his size is to go over him. He will be out for about a month with an injury, so it’s up to Jake Gleeson to keep Portland in the hunt now.
14. Steve Clark
Again, a header to the ground seems to confuse Clark, and he got beat by what I believe was a saveable shot for two weeks in a row. He did have a very brave goal line stand at the end of the game to keep Crew SC from dropping points at home again, and that keeps him in this position in the rankings.
15. Clint Irwin
He held onto a clean sheet at RFK Stadium, not the easiest thing to do especially with the way that D.C. has been playing lately. Although his defense did the bulk of the work, Irwin displayed a pair of safe hands that we hadn’t seen this season yet, especially on long range shots.
16. Joe Willis
Not the worst game I’ve ever seen from a goalie, but definitely not his best. Willis continues to struggle with consistency, and so far he’s been consistently poor if anything. He did what he could to cut that cross that led to Baggio Husidic’s goal, but a combination of his late reaction and honestly, sheer lack of luck, led to another LA goal. Houston was up 1 x 0 in that game, but it never really felt like they were in it once the Galaxy turned it on.
17. Joe Bendik
Despite getting scored on twice, Bendik was not at fault for either – especially that handball PK called by Toledo. He is showing signs of improvement coming off his line as well, so it will be interesting to see if he continues this growth.
18. Travis Worra
A couple of good saves weren’t enough to keep the reigning MVP out of the net, as Sebastian Giovinco slotted home a rebound early in the first half.
19. Matt Lampson
Hassoun Camara hit the post on a header from an impossible angle and with no pace, something that Lampson should have definitely got a hand to if not held. I saw the same shaky Lampson we’ve seen in the first weeks, not the one that kept David Villa at bay in New York City last week. He had a bad clearance lead directly to Didier Drogba’s first goal of the season, and his attempt on Piatti’s match-winning goal was uninspired, although it was a really good hit.
20. Zac MacMath
Week in and week out, MacMath keeps reminding Colorado supporters why the team went out of their way to bring back Tim Howard. At least MacMath got lucky in this game, as Sporting hit the crossbar twice and had the ball cleared off the line after a corner. MacMath again displayed his lack of communication, running into one of his defenders for this second week straight – except this time, he was saved by the crossbar.
