Alyssa Naeher is a U.S. soccer legend. The World Cup trophy and Olympic gold and bronze medals speak for themselves. She’s behind only Hope Solo and Brianna Scurry for total caps as a U.S. women’s national team goalkeeper. Her place in the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame is assured.
Naeher also turned 36 in April. Though she has been the written-in-ink No. 1 for U.S. head coach Emma Hayes over the past few months, she has not been her typically dominant self for a while now, recent penalty shootout heroics aside. She is closer to the end of her career than the start of it. With the next Women’s World Cup nearly three years away, now might be the moment to make the transition.
No major international program does this easily. Hedvig Lindahl didn’t relinquish her spot until after UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, more than two decades after she first stood between the sticks for Sweden. Nineteen years passed between Nadine Angerer‘s first cap and her retirement. Andréia Suntaque lost her starting place with Brazil during the 2008 Olympic group stage, but immediately took it back after the tournament and held on for another four years.
The transition from Solo to Naeher, or from Naeher to her successor, is not a problem unique to the U.S. Every major international side has its issues with transitioning to new goalkeepers.
What makes the U.S. unfortunately unique is the playing time it takes for new keepers to be worked into the system hasn’t been given. It may take other countries’ keepers many years before assuming the starting job, but they earn caps when they are young. Only one United States keeper under the age of 25 has been capped since 2006: Jane Campbell. After Campbell made three appearances over the course of 12 months — none of which were full-90-minute performances — she didn’t suit up again for nearly three years.
So where does that leave the U.S. goalkeeping pipeline? A big scouting camp is being held in January, a perfect time for Hayes to watch both veterans and new faces work within the U.S. setup. There are a few who have been capped that may contend for the throne. There are a couple who should probably get looked at. And there is at least one who should be called into camp for no other reason than to start the senior development process much earlier than has been customary. Hayes has demonstrated that she isn’t wedded to a single keeper, as three different No. 1s shared the minutes in her final Chelsea campaign. Now is the time to breed some competition for the position.
Let’s go through each possibility, and what advantages (and disadvantages) each offer.