No Real Salt Lake player is under more pressure this year than D.J. Countess.
As the only RSL keeper with MLS experience, which is minimal at best, the stage has been set for Countess, 23, to be the goat or the hero every night — and there's realistically no one to save him.
Sure, backup rookie keepers Jay Nolly and Noah Palmer have enjoyed solid training camps, but their inexperience should keep Countess between the posts all season long.
"The goalkeeping position in particular is a position you have to learn psychologically to thrive on pressure," said RSL assistant Peter Mellor, who is also the team's goalkeeper coach.
No one knows about that pressure more than Mellor. He was a professional keeper in England for 17 years, and now his task is to impart that wisdom on to Countess. It is by no means a new task either.
When Countess was with the under-17 U.S. National Team, Mellor was the teenage prodigy's coach. As a teenager working his way up the soccer ladder, Countess was often regarded as the next great U.S. National Team keeper.
"Even Bruce Arena called me after the U-17 championships and said 'your keeper is unbelievable,' " said Mellor.
Back then, Countess was a diamond, according to Mellor. Now, he's a diamond in the rough.
"First and foremost, my job is to make sure he becomes that diamond for Real, and I'd like to see him also, in the not too distant future, get back into the national scene," said Mellor.
Two things that have seemingly held Countess back all these years is a starting job he could call his own, and coaches who believed in him. You'd be hard-pressed to find coaches with more faith in their keeper than Mellor and head coach John Ellinger.
During the MLS expansion draft last November, RSL's coaching staff bypassed several outstanding and experienced keepers to go with Countess in the second round. If that wasn't a show of confidence, then what is?
"We have to just get him back to being a diamond, and take off those rough edges," said Mellor. "All around I feel he's pretty solid, he just needs the opportunity and an extended run to prove himself."
One of those rough edges is his ability to read the game. Countess reads the game pretty well, according to Mellor, but acknowledges that the next step can only be attained through game experience.
Another area Countess has tried to improve during training camp is the confidence to come off his line and extend his range on cross balls. Mellor believes if he can extend that range a 1/2 a yard to a yard, that could make a huge difference.
Already, however, Countess is known as an outstanding shotblocker — made possible by his quickness and footwork. Tactically, Countess is very good at connecting with the defensive unit, and he's also very good at distributing the ball to forwards and midfielders with his kicking.
Countess' backups are both coming off outstanding college careers.
Nolly led the University of Indiana to back-to-back NCAA championships during his junior and senior seasons, and he made enough of an impression for RSL to select him in the third round of the SuperDraft.
Even though Palmer didn't hoist any NCAA titles, he enjoyed similar success at the University of Maryland, where he started virtually every game during his four-year career. During his senior year, he posted a 1.06 goals-against average and recorded nine shutouts.
Real Salt Lake goalkeepers
D.J. Countess
Age: 23 Height: 6-1
Previous Club: Chicago (MLS)
Note: Was RSL's second pick in the 2004 expansion draft. Started just two matches as Chicago's backup last year. In 2003, he started 24 of 30 games, recording a 5-15-4 record on a bad defensive team. Backed up Tim Howard at New York during his rookie season in 2001.
Jay Nolly
Age: 23 Height: 6-3
Previous Club: University of Indiana
Note: Enters the season as the No. 2 goalkeeper on RSL's depth chart. Led Indiana to NCAA titles in 2003 and 2004, and four regular-season Big Ten titles. Stopped final two UC-Santa Barbara penalty kicks during NCAA title shootout in 2004.
Noah Palmer
Age: 21 Height: 6-3
Previous Club: University of Maryland
Note: Enters the season as the No. 3 goalkeeper on RSL's depth chart. Started 3 1/2 seasons during his four-year career at Maryland, and garnered second-team All-ACC honors following his senior season.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com
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