Thursday, January 5, 2012

VIDEO: Howard's Goal & Revisiting Friedel's Finish

For those who didn't get a chance to see Everton take on Bolton yesterday, you missed an American scoring a remarkable goal. No, it wasn't Landon Donovan in the first match of his second tour of duty with the Toffees.

It was Tim Howard.

Howard hoofed a back-pass forward and got plenty of help from the wind, with his clearance taking one big bounce before sailing over Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan's head and into the back of the net. The goal is the first of Howard's career; check it out:



And don't mistake that non-reaction to the goal as an "act-like-you've-been-there-before" coolness; rather, it was out of empathy for the opposing keeper in an embarrassing moment that he himself has experienced:



Unfortunately for Howard, Donovan (who played a solid 90 minutes in his first Everton appearance of 2012), and the rest of the Toffees, the goal did not hold up, with Bolton eventually winning 2-1 despite some fantastic stops from the USMNT keeper.

The goal, though, does bring back memories of another Yank goalie finding the back of the net, albeit in a more conventional, celebration-worthy fashion. I'm talking about none other than Brad Friedel, of course, who ventured forward into the opposing box in the dying moments of a 2004 EPL match against Charlton, finishing a loose ball with one touch to dramatically level the score:



Like Howard, though, Friedel ended up on the losing end that day, as Charlton scored soon after, giving them a 3-2 victory.

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With the USMNT's struggles at striker, maybe Jurgen Klinsmann will give Timmy his chance up top (I kid, I kid).

Everton will look to rebound this Saturday when they take on Tamworth (who play in the Conference National, the fifth tier of English football) at Goodison Park (10 AM ET). We'll be on Twitter with Donovan-watch updates...and perhaps with news about another Howard goal.

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