Legendary goalie and Daily Mail columnist Tim Howard inducted into US National Soccer Hall of Fame

Former United States men’s national team goalkeeper and current Daily Mail columnist Tim Howard has been officially inducted into the United States National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Howard, who is easily on the Mount Rushmore of American goalkeepers — if not the best the country has ever produced, received a red jacket as part of the Soccer Hall of Fame’s 2024 class.

In a speech, Howard thanked his mother and reflected on his accomplished club and national team career.

At the end of his speech, Howard said, “I often think about what I most want people to know about me. I hear people talk about me all the time and say, “God gave me this ability.” I do not know what it is. It’s ambiguous. It’s vague and it’s subjective.

“What is not ambiguous, vague and subjective is my desire to be the greatest goalkeeper this country has ever seen. The truth is that any great athlete will tell you: when you you stand in this tunnel alongside your brothers, you look your opponent in the eyes, you are scared to death. You are afraid of failure. consumes.

Howard donned a red jacket as he was recognized as one of the country’s best football players of all time.

“To whom much is given, much is required,” you said to me, and I live by those words. I wrote it down in a notebook in July 2003, on my way to Manchester. And I have lived by these words since I was ten years old. When I was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.

“I was scared, I wasn’t sure. I told you I didn’t feel normal. And you said, “You’re right. You are not normal. You are extraordinary. Good times are easy. Everyone can celebrate them. Anyone and everyone can attend.

“When I think of my earliest football memories, I think of our apartment in North Brunswick, New Jersey, backed by a brick wall. I was this rambunctious little kid, and I had a piece of chalk, and I drew a goal on the brick wall, and I said, “Mom, mom, come outside, play soccer with me.” And God bless you, you don’t have an athletic bone in your body, but you went for it.

And for those of you in the room who remember footballs from the days when they had patches on and the patches came off, you held it, and that’s how you rolled it. And I put my baseball gloves on, and God bless you, you ran and you hauled that ball, and I dove all over the place, and that was one of my first football memories as a goalie beginning.

“The second is in this big match against Belgium. Second overtime, we change. I saw you, I found you. I didn’t know where your seats were. I was so locked into the game, concentrated, but I saw you and I made eye contact, and I punched you just to let you know that there was nothing to worry about at all and that we understood.

Tim attended the event with his family, including his daughter Ali (above) and her mother

Tim was inducted alongside Josh McKinney, Tisha Venturini-Hoch and Francisco Marcos