ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGESU.S. goalie Tim Howard was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome in sixth grade.
The U.S. soccer team is hoping to overcome the odds today by advancing from the "Group of Death."
And that's the perfect position for U.S. goalie Tim Howard, who has had to overcome a whole host of odds his entire life.
When Howard, who grew up in North Brunswick, N.J., would come in from playing outside, he would walk through the house touching certain pieces of furniture in the same, deliberate order. When he had something to tell his mother, Esther, he insisted on tapping her on the shoulder a certain number of times before speaking.
That led to a diagnosis of Tourette’s Syndrome when he was in sixth grade.
“He was just super active, so I figured that's just the way he is,” recalls Esther, who raised Tim and his older brother Chris in a one-bedroom apartment after she and Tim’s father divorced when Tim was three. “He was a delightful little boy, in fact, that’s pretty much why he didn't get diagnosed until later than usual."
In order to deal with the disorder, Howard focused on organized sports, specifically soccer and basketball.
That way, Esther says, his focus could be on achieving goals, rather than on the disorder.
Eddie Breheney, who was Howard’s basketball coach at North Brunswick High School, says Howard refused to let Tourette’s interfere with who he was as an athlete and person.
“He looked at it as a challenge he was going to overcome, never as a weakness that he had to deal with," Breheney says. "He just looked at it as something that was a part of him."
Howard has said that he is so zoned-in during games that he doesn’t even think about the disorder. That focus, that refusal to use Tourette’s as a crutch, made Howard one of the best basketball players Breheney says he has ever coached.
“On the basketball court, he used a lot of his soccer skills,” Breheney says. “We would press, we would double team and he would play the passing lane in a way that no one’s seen at the high school level before then, or even since.”
When North Brunswick played St. Joseph High School at Rutgers University in the conference championship game in 1997, Howard was assigned to guard Jay Williams, who eventually led Duke to an NCAA Tournament title and won the Naismith Award as the best player in college basketball.
Howard held Williams, who was a sophomore that season, in check, and North Brunswick won the tournament.
It was clear that Howard’s athletic skills were exceptional, on both the basketball court and soccer field. But back then, no one imagined Howard would one day become one of the leaders on the U.S. soccer team, and one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
“There are still moments, quite often in fact, where he just takes my breath away," Esther told the Daily News in a phone interview from Sarasota, Fla., where she currently lives. “This kid that I worried so much about once he was diagnosed has overcome what he has and achieved what he has. I’m just blown away by it, and I’m in awe of him for it because I know everything he’s had to do and had to sacrifice.”
So far in Brazil, Howard has given not only his mom and former coach plenty to be in awe of, but the entire country.
Barton: Howard one of world's best goalkeepers
Barton believes Tim Howard is one of the world's best.
He held Ghana, which eliminated the U.S. in both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, to just one goal after the African nation had 21 shots, eight of which were on target, in a 2-1 U.S. victory. He followed that up by keeping Portugal, ranked No.4 in the latest FIFA rankings, to two goals in a 2-2 draw Sunday.
In that game, Portugal had 20 shots, nine of which were directed at Howard, earning Howard FIFA Man of the Match honors.
“I will never be surprised by anything Timmy does on the soccer field," Breheney says. “The biggest thing he has going is the competitive fire in him. If soccer was one of the more mainstream sports covered, I think he would be like a Derek Jeter of soccer because of his competitive instinct and the great teammate he is. He’s a great athlete but an even better person."
The 35-year-old goaltender is now a long way from his days at North Brunswick High School. This is his third World Cup, and the second in which he is the starter. During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Howard came up with several miraculous saves in a 1-1 tie against heavily-favored England and set up Landon Donovan's famous last-minute, game-winning goal against Algeria to give the U.S. its first ever group-stage title.
Aside from his strong play at the World Cup level, he has posted a goals-against-average of just .96 per game through his career with the U.S., and is also coming off a great season with Everton in which he posted 14 clean sheets for the Premier League’s fifth-place side.
But despite everything he has accomplished, his mother still admits she gets nervous watching him play, just like she did when he was growing up.
"There was of course a little panic on my part (when I saw they were in the Group of Death)," Esther says. "Between the group and then to find out the venues, I just thought it couldn't possibly be any harder than this.
“But I said to him, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so nervous,’ and he asked what I was nervous about. He then said, ‘You know what, it is what it is and we just have to do it. That’s all.”
That calm demeanor has put the Americans in prime position to advance out of the Group of Death. Heading into Thursday’s game against Germany, the U.S. stands in the second — and final — spot to advance from the group.
The Americans will clinch a spot in the Round of 16 with a win or a tie against the Germans, with a loss sending the Americans into a tie-breaking scenario against either Portugal or Ghana. But despite Germany’s dynamic attack of Mesut Özil, Thomas Müller and André Schürrle, Esther says this is the type of game her son lives for.
“For Tim, getting put into this group was all about playing against some of the great names in soccer," Esther says. “Tim cherishes every opportunity and experience with a positive outlook; he always looks at the bright side of things.”
When the U.S. was drawn into the Group of Death last December, many experts in the soccer world said the team had virtually no chance of being one of the two teams to advance. But Esther believes no challenge is too big for her son and his teammates.
“I have real faith in this team," Esther says. “I truly believe they can get out of the group, but it’s going to require some serious concentration and a really good, positive mindset. There's no reason they can't do it, though.”
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