Off another week of great 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: Travis Worra vs NY Red Bulls’ Felipe
Mistake of the Week: Dan Kennedy vs Philadelphia Union’s Chris Pontius
1. David Bingham
The San Jose netminder remains number 1 this week despite not having a great week, but, for the sake of consistency, he won’t be bumped down. San Jose took care of the Dynamo at home, but only after a shaky start from the hosts and Bingham. With Ousted and Blake both having very good weeks, Bingham could find himself dropping out of the top 2.
2. David Ousted
With two games this week, Ousted had a few ups and downs. Even though his “down” moment against Chicago wasn’t horrible, as he got beat at his near post by Kenedy Igboananike, it still wasn’t enough to make him move up into first. In the second game of the week, the Whitecaps beat Toronto in a 4-3 thriller, which included an Ousted PK save on Jozy Altidore. That proved to be deciding factor, and he continues to lead a young Vancouver team up the Western Conference standings.
3. Andre Blake
I was a little sad not to see Blake in action last week, so it was great to see him coming back – and in style. Both goals Los Angeles scored on him were absolute stunners, and they had to be, because I’m pretty sure Blake had everything else covered. At this point, Blake is the best pure shot-stopper in the MLS. My reluctance to move him above Ousted and Bingham is simply because of their experience and past success but Blake has the tools to finish atop the rankings at the end of the season. He made a couple of big saves against Montreal, including tipping a powerful free kick from Drogba over the bar.
4. Stefan Frei
Frei had a great diving save on a header before his defender committed a foul in the box, and his frame continues to disrupt attackers. His poor form to begin the season appears to have been just a bad phase, and the big Swiss is back to his best.
5. Luis Robles
Nothing is going the Red Bulls’ way this year. They pressured and pressured D.C. United but could never make the pressure tell, and D.C. scored on two of its five shots. Not that Robles was at fault, and he actually made a couple of good saves to try and keep the Red Bulls in it, but it just wasn’t their night once again.
6. Bobby Shuttleworth
Chicago has the most uninspiring attack in the league, and Shuttleworth didn’t have to deal with much. A confident performance to keep the clean sheet is enough to see him move above Nick Rimando who didn’t play this week.
7. Nick Rimando
DNP – Jeff Attinella took Rimando’s spot and proved once again that he can be a starter in this league.
8. Jesse Gonzalez
DNP due to the injury he sustained after a collision with Will Johnson last week. He was replaced by Chris Seitz, a known figure in this ranking, who did a fine job especially against Seattle.
9. Steve Clark
Coming off Save of the Week honors last week, Steve Clark put on a good performance against the rising Colorado Rapids at home this week. Shkelzen Gashi and Jermaine Jones are always threats, but Clark was able to handle both marquee players with brave goal exits and good hands.
10. Evan Bush
Bush followed a shaky performance last week with a pretty solid performance against the Union this week. He was especially clever on a 1 v 1 with Chris Pontius when he realized the attacker was going for the shot between his legs, and he quickly shut them to deny the goal.
11. Josh Saunders
The veteran continued to work his magic and impress in the NYCFC goal. Not only does he have an important part in the NYCFC game plan of building from the back, but he is quickly showing why he’s been in the league for over a decade. Saunders kept Portland at bay all game, with sprawling saves left and right.
12. Brian Rowe
DNP – Dan Kennedy started over Rowe this week and it baffles me a little bit that Bruce Arena made that call. Rowe has had nothing but solid performances, and even though Kennedy is more experience, I do believe the Rowe is the best goalie at this point. Let’s see how the next week plays out before I include Kennedy in the rankings, especially since he had the mistake of the round when he didn’t hold onto to fairly straightforward header from Chris Pontius, which led to Keegan Rosenberry’s first MLS goal.
13. Travis Worra
The Red Bulls have had a string of unlucky results, but this time against DC United, they lost largely because of what Travis Worra did in the game. Worra had 2 fantastic saves on efforts by Felipe, one on a bouncing header off a powerful cross, and then what takes the honors as our Save of the Week for Week 11. A low cross into the box forced Worra to come out quickly and close the angle on the near post run, and off the ricochet Felipe comes flying in to direct the ball into what looks to be an empty net. Somehow Worra takes a couple of quick steps, scrambles over to get a paw on that ball. That kept the Red Bulls at bay and secured the clean sheet for United.
14. Joe Bendik
Bendik has started to creep up the power rankings with strong showings in the past few weeks. This week, Bendik had an incredible sequence in the game against SKC when they kept playing as Orlando City had a man down in their own box. Shame on you Sporting – good thing Joe was up to the task.
15. Clint Irwin
Vancouver started the game all over Toronto, and all Irwin could do was pick up the ball in the back of the net. I did feel like there were a couple of times where he looked like he wasn’t going to save a single shot in the game, so even if Vancouver wasn’t completely on top of their game, he seemed doomed no matter what.
16. Tyler Deric/Joe Willis
Joe Willis again filled in for Tyler Deric, who got sent off again last week. He didn’t have much to do against RSL, as Burrito Martinez, Joao Plata, and Morales failed to combine in Houston.
17. Jake Gleeson
Gleeson keeps showing that he is a useful shotstopper, but that’s about it. He doesn’t inspire confidence in crosses and so far I haven’t seen evidence of him organizing his defense extremely well. He might be a step-up over Kwarasey if we consider his late form, so it’ll be interesting to see what Caleb Porter does when Kwarasey is available again.
18. Zac MacMath
Not much work against a shell-shocked Columbus thanks to the whole Kei Kamara ordeal, but he did do well to prevent Kei’s namesake, Ola, from getting around him and scoring.
19. Matt Lampson
Lampson had a strong week, and I mean that in no reference to him lowering his shoulder onto Vancouver’s Kudo off a through ball. I think Lampson was right in that scenario – he got there first, and protected himself. Not much he could do if Kudo didn’t see him. He also had a good save on a point blank shot from Agudelo earlier in the week.
20. Tim Melia
Melia drops to last mostly because of strong showings by Lampson and MacMath. I feel like Sporting could be in a much better position with a significant upgrade in his position. He did show that he can come out for crosses though, and he did twice Colorado, but failed to do so against Orlando City so I’m not still not sure what drives him to come out versus what makes him not to commit to crosses.
