As the USMNT’s last sprint for the World Cup nears, Zack Steffen showed his talents in his hometown
Though the Union beat Steffen with three late goals, his eight saves before then were a reminder of what he can do. Will he finally get a shot with the national team that he's been waiting for?
When the calendar turns to August in a few days, it won’t just be schoolkids thinking about what’s on the next page.
Zack Steffen knows as well as anyone that September means the start of the U.S. men’s soccer team’s final sprint to the World Cup, with two of the eight games left before the roster is picked.
He also knows that, for the first time in over 30 years, the program doesn’t have a clear No. 1 goalkeeper. Longtime incumbent Matt Turner lost the job at the start of the summer, and his successor, Matt Freese, didn’t do enough in the Gold Cup to keep it.
Steffen and Patrick Schulte, the top candidates to push Turner for the starting job, both missed the tournament due to injuries. Now they’re healthy and playing regularly in MLS, while Turner hasn’t been in Europe. He left England’s Crystal Palace for France’s Lyon so he could fix that, but Lyon’s financial woes have led the club to try to cancel the deal.
That makes Steffen and Schulte’s games all the more significant, and Steffen’s hometown saw that up close Saturday night. The Downingtown native almost singlehandedly willed his Colorado Rapids to a result at Subaru Park, making eight big saves before Mikael Uhre’s two late goals gave the Union a 3-1 win.
It was just Steffen’s second loss in six games against the team whose academy he grew up in before going to college at Maryland, then turning pro in Germany.
“Maybe the Soccer Gods are helping me out for being back in Philly,” he said of his record here over the years. “But yeah, it’s fun to come back here. I have tons of friends and family that come to the game, and it’s a great place to come.”
» READ MORE: Mikael Uhre’s late goals send the Union back to first place with a 3-1 win over Colorado
U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino is at home in Europe right now. He spent Saturday at work, watching national team striker Damion Downs score for England’s Southampton in a preseason game against Spain’s Espanyol. When Pochettino woke up Sunday morning, he surely looked at the overnight MLS scores and saw that Steffen gave up three goals.
But it’s a safe bet that Pochettino read the rest of the stats, too. So the manager likely noticed Steffen’s hard work in front of teammates who are only good enough for ninth place in the Western Conference.
Steffen hasn’t played for his country since January, when he made two strong saves to help shut out Costa Rica in a friendly. He should have fixed that twice since then, but he missed the Nations League third-place game due to illness, then suffered a knee injury on the second day of the U.S.’ pre-Gold Cup training camp.
Steffen said he has spoken with Pochettino and goalkeeper coach Toni Jiménez, and has been told he’s in the mix. So will the phone ring for those September games, major matchups with South Korea and Japan?
» READ MORE: The Union’s big influence on the USMNT is a remarkable feat
“I’m waiting,” he said. “I hope so, and I’ll be ready.”
It’s been nearly four years since the November 2021 night when Steffen played perhaps the best game of his career, a four-save shutout of Mexico in a big World Cup qualifying win. He also showed his strong passing skills, working the ball around Mexico’s press to send teammates on their way up the field.
The months that followed were a roller coaster ride in the wrong direction. A series of injuries and a family matter that saw him withdraw from the summer’s games led then-U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter to shockingly leave Steffen off the 2022 World Cup team in the fall.
And that was just the start. Though he started to turn the tide in early 2024 when he left England’s Manchester City to sign with Colorado, he still didn’t make it back onto the field for the national team. In fact, he didn’t get the chance until that game this past January — a gap of nearly three years.
» READ MORE: MLS pushes a calendar flip down the road, but perhaps not for much longer
Steffen is now 30, and though goalkeepers play for longer than outfield players, four years since a peak is a long time for anyone. Still, if he does finally get a full shot with the U.S. this fall, more than just his friends and family in Philly will be rooting for him.
“It’s just working hard each and every day and getting better, pushing yourself to the limit every day and then performing on the weekends at a club level,” he said. “And then if you do all those things, hopefully you’ll get the call, and then try and make the most of it out of it at camp. It’s been an unfortunate year with the national team, but at least I’m in the mix and playing well here with the club. I’ve just got to keep working hard and grinding, and everything will fall into place.”
As unsettled as the goalkeeper depth chart is, the competitors do all get along and have for some time. That helps keep the spirit positive as they each try to win the starter’s prize.
“It’s a good camaraderie amongst the group,” Steffen said. “Training’s tough and everybody’s supportive, but at the same time we all want to play. That cultivates a great training group and atmosphere and everything — but my head is down, and my eyes are on that number one spot.”
» READ MORE: Brenden and Paxten Aaronson still root for the Union, and want them to win a big trophy
The U.S.’s eight games before the World Cup will be spread over four national team windows, one each in September, October, November, and March. That isn’t much time, and Steffen had a quick response when asked how much it feels like.
“Seconds,” he said. “We all know how time flies, especially when you’re staying present. So what I’m trying to do is just stay present, get better each and every day, and work on my weaknesses. And when it comes to game time, just perform.”