Tim Howard

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For other persons named Tim Howard, see Tim Howard (disambiguation).
Tim Howard
Tim Howard training for the US team
Personal information
Full name Timothy Matthew Howard
Date of birth March 6, 1979 (1979-03-06) (age 29)
Place of birth    North Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Everton
Number 24
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1997
1998–2003
2003–2007
2006–2007
2007–		 North Jersey Imperials
MetroStars
Manchester United
→ Everton (loan)
Everton		 06 (0)
85 (0)
45 (0)
25 (0)
47 (0)   
National team2
2002– United States 30 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 17:37, 14 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 16:59, 6 June 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Tim Howard (born March 6, 1979, in North Brunswick, New Jersey, United States) is a football (soccer) goalkeeper, currently playing for Everton, as well as being the first choice goalkeeper for the United States national team.

Contents

[edit] Early Years

Tim Howard was born in North Brunswick, New Jersey, USA to Matthew Howard, an African-American, and Esther Howard, a Caucasian woman born in Hungary. His parents divorced when he was three years old, so Howard lived with his mother, a project manager for a cosmetics distributor. His father, a long-distance truck driver for a health-care firm, nonetheless maintained a presence in his life. It was his father, in fact, who was determined to get Tim and his brother, Chris, involved in sports. In fact, before the two could walk, he bought them equipment for various sports to see which games they preferred. Tim showed a preference for basketball and soccer.

Racism, which manifested itself when Howard dated a Caucasian female whose father refused to let him in their house, was one of two major obstacles Howard faced in his early life; the other was Tourette's syndrome. Howard’s symptoms began to appear when he was in the fifth grade. He did not suffer from the well-known form of the disease that causes one to curse randomly and without warning, but from a strain that made him feel compelled to touch objects and people in specific ways. For example, he would put his hands on his mother's shoulders or arms whenever he would talk with her. Before Howard was even a teenager, Tim Mulqueen, a one time assistant coach for the U-17 United States Men's National Soccer Team, saw his potential at a soccer camp Howard attended and took the boy under his wing.

In high school Howard proved a star not only in soccer, as a midfielder, but also on the basketball court, where he averaged 15 points per game and helped bring his team to the state finals in his senior year. However his talent and abilities as a soccer player were far more impressive. Despite his position on his high school team, Howard was a far better goalkeeper than he was an outfield player. Howard spent the first years of high school attending Montclair Kimberley School, a small private school in Montclair, New Jersey.[1] Howard left MKA his junior year to go back to North Brunswick where he grew up, and graduated from North Brunswick Township High School.By the age of 15 he began covering goals on U.S. youth national teams. He made his international debut against Honduras on the U-17 squad. In 1997 Mulqueen became the coach of the North Jersey Imperials, a team in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues(USISL), and served as the goalkeeper coach for MLS's MetroStars; he immediately considered Howard for a position on the Imperials. In May of that year, a month before graduating from high school, Howard played for the Imperials in his first professional game.

[edit] Club career

[edit] North Jersey Imperials and MetroStars

After only six appearances with the USISL's North Jersey Imperials, Tim Mulqueen, who at the time was the New York/New Jersey MetroStar's goalkeeper coach, brought Howard up from the Imperials to the MetroStars where Howard appeared in over 80 matches.

[edit] Manchester United

Manchester United paid a $4 million transfer fee to sign Howard in the middle of the 2003 MLS season, and he immediately replaced French international Fabien Barthez as the club's first-choice goalkeeper.[2] He started off very well at Manchester United, saving the decisive penalty in the Community Shield against Arsenal. Other notable performances followed, including Bolton Wanderers and a home FA Cup tie victory over Manchester City. However, in March 2004, Howard's poor parry handed a last minute goal to FC Porto, eliminating United from the UEFA Champions League. The error appeared to shatter Howard's confidence and he was replaced by Roy Carroll. After a period of rest, Howard reclaimed his starting position ahead of Carroll for the 2004 FA Cup Final, picking up a winner's medal. He was the first American to do so. Howard was also named in the PFA Best XI in his first season at Manchester United, making him the only United player in the team. In his second season with Manchester United, he started poorly, making several errors and was dropped again for Carroll. After Carroll made several errors as well, Howard forced his way back in but his performances were unconvincing, leading to Carroll retaining his place again, playing in the FA cup final defeat to Arsenal.

At the end of the 2005–06 season, Howard signed a new contract, which was to run until 2009. In the summer of 2005, Manchester United released both of his competitors for the goalkeeper position — Ricardo López Felipe and Carroll. However, they also bought experienced Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar soon after. An uncharacteristically outspoken Howard fumed in an interview that he would not have signed the new contract had he known van der Sar was on his way to United (van der Sar replaced Howard as first choice keeper). He felt that he had done enough to remain as the first choice United keeper.

[edit] Everton

In May 2006 a deal was agreed between Manchester United and Everton that would see Howard join the Merseyside club on loan for the 2006–07 season. Everton looked to Tim as a replacement for their newly-retired goalkeeper Nigel Martyn, in much the same way as Manchester United, when they were involved in the search for a successor to Peter Schmeichel (after many unsuccessful replacements). Howard made his Everton debut against Watford on the opening day of the season. Since his debut, Howard has established himself as Everton's first-choice goalkeeper.

On February 14, 2007, Everton announced that Howard had signed a permanent deal with the club through the 2012–2013 season. The permanent deal is believed to be worth around £3 million, but the exact fee paid by Everton remains undisclosed.

On April 28, 2007, Everton faced Manchester United at Goodison Park. Howard did not participate in the game, and there was some speculation that this came from a clause in his loan contract which states that he cannot take part in games against Manchester United. However, since a permanent deal had been signed by the two clubs, such a clause would not be permitted. This was investigated by the Football Association and according to some newspapers, both Everton and Manchester United could have been fined for this and possibly receive point deductions. But the British newspaper The Sun, however, held it to be more likely that this affair would result in a tightening of the rules on loan deals.[3] The F.A. eventually stated on May 6 that neither Manchester United nor Everton had broken any rules regarding Howard's transfer and that both clubs had confirmed that Everton had been free to play Howard against Manchester United if they had wished to do so.[citation needed]

[edit] International career

Howard started for the United States national team in the 1999 World Youth Championship in Nigeria and was a backup to Brad Friedel (of Blackburn Rovers) at the 2000 Summer Olympics. On March 10, 2002, he received his first senior cap, against Ecuador. Howard has appeared for the US 25 times so far (as of December 23, 2007). On May 2, 2006, Howard was named as one of three goalkeepers on the US roster for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Howard was also the starting keeper for the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, a 2–1 win over Mexico. He has recently established himself as the first choice keeper for the US national team, over players such as Kasey Keller (who was first choice for the 2006 World Cup) and Marcus Hahnemann. Howard also started for the US v Mexico friendly match held on February 6, 2008, in Houston, which resulted in a 2–2 draw.

[edit] Honours

Winner:

Runner-Up:

[edit] Career statistics


Club Performance League Cup Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
USA League Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Total
1997 North Jersey Imperials USISL 6 0
1998 New York/New Jersey MetroStars Major League Soccer 1 0
1999 9 0
2000 9 0
2001 29 0
2002 27 0
2003 13 0
England League FA Cup Total
2003-04 Manchester United Premier League 32 0
2004-05 12 0
2005-06 1 0
2006-07 Everton Premier League 36 0
2007-08 36 0
Total USA 94 0
England 81 0
Career Total 175 0

[edit] Humanitarian

Howard has Tourette syndrome[4] and was named MLS Humanitarian of the Year in 2001 for his work with children with Tourette's. He is a committed Christian and has been involved with Athletes in Action, a ministry arm of Campus Crusade for Christ.[5]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ MKA’s Riddick has unique view as she watches surging Mounties, The Montclair Times, May 20, 2005
  2. ^ "American goalie rises to top of soccer world", USA Today, 2004-01-22. Retrieved on 2007-07-07. 
  3. ^ Haigh, Andrew. "Prem to probe United deal", May 06, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-16. 
  4. ^ Tourette Syndrome Association. Public Service Announcement for Tourette Syndrome awareness features soccer star Tim Howard. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
  5. ^ Lawrence, Chris (2006) "The Keeper" Worldwide Challenge 33(3)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Tony Meola		 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year
2001		 Succeeded by
Joe Cannon
v • d • e
United States squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Howard • 2 Albright • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 O'Brien • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Lewis • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Reyna • 11 Ching • 12 Berhalter • 13 Conrad • 14 Olsen • 15 Convey • 16 Wolff • 17 Beasley • 18 Keller • 19 Hahnemann • 20 McBride • 21 Donovan • 22 Onyewu • 23 Pope • Coach: Arena
 Flag of the United States
v • d • e
Everton F.C. – current squad

2 Hibbert • 3 Baines • 4 Yobo • 5 Lescott • 6 Arteta • 7 Van der Meyde • 8 Johnson • 12 Turner • 14 Vaughan • 16 Jagielka • 17 Cahill • 18 Neville • 19 Valente • 20 Pienaar • 21 Osman • 22 Yakubu • 23 Fernandes • 24 Howard • 28 Anichebe • 30 Ruddy • 32 Gosling • 34 Irving • 37 Rodwell • Manager: Moyes
v • d • e
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