Perhaps the most unwelcome news of the Seattle Sounders’ offseason traveled north from Los Angeles. Just days into his first camp with the U.S. Men’s National Team in mid-January, Stefan Frei announced he was withdrawing. A right ankle sprain forced the in-form Sounders goalkeeper to head home just days into camp.
If the Sounders could ill-afford to lose anyone to start the year, it was Frei. Fresh off an MLS Cup save that made him a folk hero in Seattle, Frei has become one of the league’s elite ‘keepers over the last few years. Missing his veteran presence at the back would be a high hurdle and a disappointing note to begin 2017, depending on the injury’s severity.
The good news is Frei is on track to recover by the start of the season. The better news? Frei’s absence paved the way for Tyler Miller’s emergence as a sparkling goalkeeper in his own right and an able No. 2 to Frei this season. If the 23-year-old’s performances thus far this preseason are any indication, the position is in good hands for the foreseeable future.
“It’s been a great experience for me,” Miller said. “It was unfortunate what happened to Stef, especially just a few days into national team camp, but I’ve really taken it in stride. I feel like I’ve been really stepping up in terms of how I’ve been playing and really showing my abilities and that I’m capable of competing and also performing well at this level.”
The Sounders took Miller with the 33rd pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft, but the Northwestern grad felt the tug of Europe. In lieu of signing with Seattle, he made the move to German fourth division side SVN Zweibrücken in early 2015 and spent the next few months working his way into the club’s first team. But the club was racked by financial troubles at the time, and by the end of 2015 it announced it hadn’t been paying its players for months. In 2016, it dropped from the fourth to the 10th tier of German soccer and reformed by joining with another club.
The experience was formative for Miller, who promptly returned Stateside in July 2015 and signed with Sounders FC 2.
“It was not a place that in the long run worked out, but I took a chance and I came back and it’s a learning experience I’ve grown from,” Miller said. “I’ve been able to apply it to my game today.”
Miller’s breakout in 2016 caught most by surprise. He had a quality year with S2, starting 12 games and logging a handful of spectacular saves, but his grand arrival in the collective psyche of Sounders fans came last June in a brief stint with the senior team. Miller was given the road start at Real Salt Lake in the U.S. Open Cup, and he made two enormous saves in the penalty shootout to decide the match in Seattle’s favor. Seemingly ever since, Miller’s star has been shooting ever higher into the firmament.
His performance in Seattle’s two preseason games this month has only been an extension of that rise. Indeed, there’s an argument to be made that nobody’s upped their stock quite so tangibly as Miller in that time.
Miller’s skill set is varied, and he undoubtedly has the prototypical size at 6-foot-4 to reach every corner of the net. But his instincts and jittery reaction saves in particular are what set him apart from the pack. At one point in the second half of the team’s preseason opener against Portland in Arizona, Miller practically hit the afterburners on his jetpack to spring up to his right corner to knock a sure goal over the bar. You could hear the surprise ripple through the crowd. It was a stunning save.
It was also a sign that Miller’s continued to improve since joining the club a year and a half ago. That, he says, is largely a credit to Sounders goalkeeper coach Tommy Dutra and Frei, whose professionalism has had a major impact on Miller at the developmental level.
“Stef’s a great goalkeeper,” Miller said. “He obviously is the MLS Cup MVP and he had a fantastic year last year. But mainly [he’s helped me] just learning how to handle the pressures and the day-in, day-out stress and grind of playing goalkeeper at this level, and just realizing that if you make a mistake it’s OK. Just bounce back and just be able to gain that maturity level that Stef has, just watching how he carries himself, how he’s acting toward the guys on the field and off the field. It’s his habits and being able to be in that one-on-one situation with him and learning from him has been a fantastic experience so far.”
As good as Miller’s been so far this season, the No. 1 spot in goal is still Frei’s, something Miller understands well. The Sounders’ defense essentially won them the 2016 MLS Cup title, and after surrendering a meager three goals in six postseason games in 2016, Frei’s role on the team has never been larger or more important.
But Miller’s clearly continued to improve, and he’s taken to his role as Frei’s understudy to soak up as much as possible. After all, Miller’s still 23, which in goalkeeper years is especially youthful. His career is only just getting off the ground, and it would appear the Sounders’ strong lineage of goalkeepers, from Kasey Keller to Michael Gspurning to Stefan Frei, is in good hands.
“I’m excited for this year,” Miller said. “I feel like I’ve really secured myself in Seattle. This year, obviously I want to play. And right now I’m beginning to get an opportunity to perform and get reps in preseason, and so I hope to carry that into this upcoming season and just really take this year and own it and have a really good, healthy and strong year.”
