elder brothers?

You might not know it, but there are many reasons to root for the United States during the World Cup. I have plenty of them, personally. But what about you, the casual sports fan who wants to get acquainted with the team in an informative yet casual manner in the lead up to the World Cup? Well, it turns out you’re in luck — in this last installment of a multi-part series, I will explain why you absolutely have to LOVE this US National Team. Hop on board!

We Americans have had one huge advantage in soccer all along — we’re really good with our hands! It’s true! Ever since the 1990 World Cup, our team has been able to trot out a series of very talented, world-class goalkeepers that have often outperformed their rivals. From Tony Meola to Brad Friedel to Casey Keller, we’ve had a great run of goalkeepers protecting our net from the opposition. Timmy Howard is the next in line and looks poised to leave his mark on this World Cup.

Tim Howard is our number one goalkeeper, and he is a pretty damn good one at that. He’s tall, athletic, and provides leadership on a team that needs it. But in addition to battling curling free kicks from our opponents, Timmy battles his own personal adversary: Tourette’s syndrome!

When you see Tim play, it’s obvious he has some unintentional motor ticks. He’s done a number of interviews about the topic, but never seems bogged down by the condition or or annoyed by reporters talking about it. He even earned the nickname “Timmy Tourette’s” while playing in England, which I am fairly sure is considered an affectionate gesture and a salute to one of the world’s greatest keepers. I certainly have nothing but respect for Timmy — and I even consider him one of the top two athletes with Tourette’s of all-time (shout-out to all the other Chris Jackson a.k.a. Mahmoud Abdul-Raouf fans out there!).

Thankfully, Timmy’s symptoms are very mild, and he does not suffer from involuntary speech issues that people often associate with Tourette’s. In fact, he even seems to have left all aspects of speaking difficulties to his teammate and co-keeper, Marcus Hahnemann, who had this to say about the new Adidas soccer balls being used at the World Cup:

“It’s horse shit,” Hahnemann said. “It’s the worst soccer ball I’ve ever played with. It’s plastic. It feels like shit when it comes off your foot. It moves like crazy. It swerves. It’s kind of like one of those plastic balls kids play with at the beach. You can’t tell what it’s going to do. It sucks.”

So there you have it: we have one goalkeeper who is awesome despite battling Tourette’s syndrome, and another goalkeeper who could really use an excuse like Tourette’s to explain his bizarre verbal outbursts! That should be more than enough reason for you to root for the USA during the World Cup!