Tim Howard, legendary goalkeeper and Daily Mail columnist, is inducted into US National Soccer Hall of Fame

Former United States Men’s National Team goalkeeper and current Daily Mail columnist Tim Howard has been officially inducted into the US National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Howard, who is easily on the Mount Rushmore of American goalkeepers — if not the best the country has ever produced — was presented with a red jacket as part of the Soccer Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.

In a speech, Howard thanked his mother and reflected on his successful club and national team career.

At the end of his speech, Howard said, “I often think about what I most want people to know about me. I hear people talk about me all the time and they say, “God-given ability.” I do not know what that is. That’s ambiguous. It’s vague and subjective.

‘What is not ambiguous, vague and subjective was my desire to be the best goalkeeper this country has ever seen. The truth is, any great athlete will tell you that when you stand shoulder to shoulder with your brothers in that tunnel and look your opponent in the eye, you are terrified. You want the ground to swallow you whole. You are afraid of failure. You are vulnerable and self-doubt consumes you.

Howard wore a red jacket because he was recognized as one of the country’s best ever football players

“To whom much is given, much is expected,” you said to me, and I live by those words. I wrote it in a notebook on the way to Manchester in July 2003. And I lived by those words since I was ten years old. When I was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome.

‘I was scared, I was insecure. I told you I didn’t feel normal. And you said, “You’re right. You are not normal. You are extraordinary.” The good times are easy. Everyone can celebrate it. Anyone and everyone can be around.

“When I think of my earliest football memories, I think of our apartment in North Brunswick, New Jersey, against a brick wall. I was a rambunctious little kid, and I had a piece of chalk, and I drew a goal on the brick wall, and I said, “Mommy, mommy, come out, play football with me.” And God bless you, you don’t have an athletic bone in your body, but you got yourself out there.

And for those of you in the room who remember footballs from back in the day, they had patches glued to them and the patches came off, you held it and that’s how you rolled it. And put on my baseball gloves, and God bless you, you ran and dragged that ball, and I dove around, and that was one of my first soccer memories as a goalie.

‘The second is in that great Belgian match. During the second extension we switch. I saw you, I found you. I didn’t know where your seats were. I was so locked into the game, in focus, but I saw you and I made eye contact, and I gave you a fist pump to let you know that you had nothing to worry about and that we have this.

Tim attended the event with his family, including his daughter Ali (above) and his mother

Tim was inducted alongside Josh McKinney, Tisha Venturini-Hoch and Francisco Marcos