Ethan Horvath had a moment to forget on Saturday as his team lost 5-0 to Burnley, when he scored a terrible own goal.
The Cardiff City goalkeeper was in the penalty area early in the first half when team-mate Dimitrios Goutas rolled a pass back to him.
But the American lost his concentration as he failed to hold the ball with the bottom of his foot and the ball ended up in the net behind him despite his attempts to stop it.
Horvath appeared humiliated after the blunder when Goutas came over to comfort him.
Former American goalkeeper Tony Meola said on CBS Sport that “everything was wrong at that moment” for Horvath and criticized him for not trying to hold the ball with the inside of his foot.
Ethan Horvath reacts after his own goal against Burnley in Saturday’s 5-0 defeat of Cardiff City
Horvath slid toward the ball and tried to keep it out of his net, but was unable to do so
The afternoon took a turn for the worse for Cardiff after Horvath made a mistake in the ninth minute, with Luca Koleosho, Josh Brownhill, Zeki Amdouni and Johann Berg Gudmundsson scoring.
The move comes days after Mauricio Pochettino reportedly agreed to a job as manager of the USMNT, for whom Horvath has played 10 caps.
He wants to impress the Argentine, but in recent years he has been ranked behind number 1 Matt Turner on the American list.
Turner made 17 appearances for Nottingham Forest last season after joining from Arsenal in the summer, but he has struggled at times and now seems to be far from the starting line-up.
Mauricio Pochettino has agreed to be named the new coach of the United States men’s national team
He was not on the bench for Forest’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on Saturday.
Horvath has been a player-switcher in the Championship for some time now since joining Forest in 2021.
The following season he played on loan at Luton Town, where he made 44 appearances. Last year he moved to Cardiff, before leaving permanently last winter.