Posted by Oliver Wilson

The ever-confident Brad Guzan is a difficult character to break. Even after being stretched to his limits by Queens Park Rangers on Saturday, and being called up to a US Men’s National Team that has been rocked by an injury crisis, the Aston Villa goalkeeper remained upbeat and smiling when asked about his nerves heading into one of the most important weeks in his international career.

 

“There’s no nerves at all,” he replied back, grinning at the thought.

 

“There’s nothing to be nervous about. You relish the moment, you take it all in, the excitement, and you try to enjoy it.”

 

Guzan, though, has an opportunity to make the US teams starting goalkeeper position his after a season with Aston Villa that has seen him produce so many world-class performances that his manger Paul Lambert is sick of discussing him in post match press conferences.  Combined with a growing fear that Tim Howard, who will miss the vital clashes with Costa Rica and Mexico through injury, is beginning to lose the command of his international back four and you can see just why some US soccer fans are looking forward to seeing Guzan between the posts this coming week.

 

While some may be thinking about the possibility of Brad as a permanent fixture between the posts in the US side, he is thinking about the tasks ahead as they come and focusing on making important saves for both his club and his country.

 

“It’s just a matter of just getting on with your job. As a goalkeeper it makes you feel good when you leave that facial expression on strikers and guys when they try to score and you’ve been able to pull off a save. That’s where you get your joy as a goalkeeper. If you keep it out of the back of the net, that’s what it’s about.

 

“For me it’s about trying to prove myself week in week out, continue to get better and like I’ve always said, you don’t get too high when things are going well and you just carry on.

 

The enormity of the coming 10 days is not lost on the 29-year-old, though, and the Illinois native understands that results are needed from the both Friday’s and next Tuesday’s games if the US are going to make it through the CONCACAF Hexagonal round of World Cup qualification.

 

“It’s going to be a huge game [in the Azteca] but before we get to Mexico we’ve got Costa Rica in Denver and that’s a massive one for us so hopefully we can go to Denver, take care of business and obviously, any time you play Mexico home or away, it’s a massive game.”