Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Galaxy's 'keeper

On the day I posted my goalkeeper rankings, Grahame Jones of the LA Times has a feature on Steve Cronin, who came in at number 14 on my list.

Several Galaxy fans have complained in the comments section about Cronin and his rating. Maybe he'll prove that he deserves to be higher on the list come next season. But he's played a total of six regular-season games in four years. How can I not be skeptical of him?

Some have also pointed out that Matt Reis once backed up Kevin Hartman and he's done well for himself since leaving. Yes, this is true. But the one advantage Reis had over Cronin was that Reis worked with Zak Abdel, the ex-Galaxy, ex-Chivas USA, current U.S. national team goalkeepers coach. Abdel coached Hartman and Brad Guzan during the seasons each won the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award. Cronin has not had the luxury of working under Abdel, save for his spell in US camp earlier this year.

Anyway, just some food for thought.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hartman was 24 when he took over from campos and he had less mls experience.