http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/01/sport/football/tim-howard-spotlight/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
(CNN) -- Rarely is the man of the match a goalkeeper whose team loses 2-1. But Tuesday was a special and spectacular night of heart-stopping shot-stopping.
Belgium must have been feeling that surely a goal would come, but how in the world are we going to get something past Tim Howard?
The American goalkeeper had saves of every kind. He flashed a leg out several times to knock shots away. He dived to his right or his left to snare hard-hit balls. He reflexively punched close-in shots away. He tipped the ball over the crossbar on a couple of occasions.
The 35-year-old, who plays at Everton in the English Premier League, kept the score from being 4-1 or worse with 16 saves, many of those stops during extraordinarily tense moments in the U.S. penalty area.
That's the most saves in any World Cup game since they began keeping such records in 1966.
"It's my job. That's what I signed up to do," he told ESPN. "It's heartbreaking. I don't think we could have given any more."
His club coach has said there is no better goalkeeper in the Premier League.
"His belief and understanding of the game and his desire to achieve more is contagious," Roberto Martinez told FIFA.com.
National team coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in May that Howard is one of the top five goalies in the world. And he had foretelling words of greatness for reporters.
"I think there is something special waiting for Tim (in the World Cup), that he hopefully makes that his special moment."
When Howard began his pro career as a 22-year-old goalkeeper for the New York/New Jersey MetroStars of MLS, he was known for being a great athlete who could make great saves. Some reports have even said he could have played basketball in college,
But the 6-foot-3 Howard wasn't particularly good at other things, like distributing the ball after he made a nice stop. It's something he is much, much better at today.
In 2001 he was MLS goalkeeper of the year and Manchester United, one of the most successful European clubs in history, worked out a transfer deal for him.
It was then that many learned that Howard has Tourette syndrome, when some in the British press made fun of him.
Many know it only as the "swearing disease," but only about 10% of people with Tourette syndrome swear.
"You know, we don't all curse," Howard told Yahoo Sports two weeks ago. "I do on the field, unfortunately, to get my point across, but it's not because of my condition."
People with Tourette syndrome have involuntary tics, which can be either verbal or physical. Physical tics may include jumping or twitching. People with the syndrome describe a tic like a sneeze, impossible to hold in without extreme discomfort.
Howard has said that as a child in New Brunswick, New Jersey, he was teased by other sixth-graders about his Tourette syndrome. His mother, Esther Howard, told the New York Daily News that her son used to walk deliberately through the house, being sure to touch pieces of furniture in the same order.
Howard told German media outlet Der Spiegel that he used to arrange his toys in a certain way. And he would bring home pockets full of rocks.
"He was just superactive, so I figured that's just the way he is," his mom told the Daily News.
Before the 2010 World Cup he told CNN that dealing with the disorder is just another part of his life.
"It's something that I live with every day. For me now in my life, it's like breathing for me. If I woke up and didn't have Tourette syndrome, it would feel weird -- not better or worse, just different. So I'm very happy and comfortable with it," he said.
Howard has said that his play has never been affected by Tourette syndrome and that when it gets crazy in front of the goal he focuses so hard that the tics go away.
Howard, who spent four years with Manchester United before transferring to Everton, has become something of a cult hero, sporting a thick black beard in direct contrast to his shaven head.
He first grew the beard during the last EPL season and has changed his mind once or twice about its merits.
"It was my strength. I loved it and then I cut it. I just cut it because I was tired of it," he said. "But I just decided to grow it back. There's never a rhyme or reason when I decide to grow it, it just happened."
This may not be Howard's final World Cup. Plenty of goalies have played in their late 30s and early 40s.
But backup Brad Guzan, who plays at Aston Villa in England, is five years younger.
Howard has yet to say whether he wants to be in the net when the team tries to qualify for Russia, host of the 2018 World Cup.
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