For Brad Guzan, nine months of hard labor

The vital traits for a soccer goalkeeper are good hands, quick feet and a short memory. Concede a goal, forget it. The match marches on.

This spring, Brad Guzan needed to purge the memory of more than a goal or game.

He had to cleanse the mental residue of a miserable nine-month season.

"As soon as the last game finished, as soon as I was on the plane headed to Miami for the start of [training] camp," the U.S. national team veteran said Tuesday, "my focus was only on this summer and being part of this team."

There was much to leave behind. In Guzan's fourth year as Aston Villa's first-choice keeper, the Premier League club won three of 38 matches and was relegated to England's second flight for the first time in 29 years.

Guzan, 31, was in net for a season-opening victory over Bournemouth in August. He did not win any of his remaining 27 league starts, losing 22 and drawing five. Blame fell up and down the roster, not just on the Homer Glen, Ill., native.

And when Aston Villa's sour campaign mercifully ended and the U.S. squad gathered in Florida to prepare for Copa America Centenario, a tournament featuring Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, coach Jurgen Klinsmann named Guzan as the starter ahead of 2014 World Cup hero Tim Howard.

Klinsmann's rationale? Guzan had a rough year, but at least he played. Howard, 37, lost the starting job at Everton during the winter. Aside from two late-season matches, including the home finale marking his last appearance after 10 years, he was a bystander the second half of the season. After Copa America, Howard will join MLS's Colorado Rapids.

There was more to Klinsmann's decision: After the World Cup in Brazil, Howard took a one-year leave of absence from the national team. Guzan, the longtime deputy and two-time World Cup reserve, was the clear-cut starter.

Howard's return last fall rekindled the competition. Guzan started the CONCACAF Cup against Mexico. They split the World Cup qualifiers in both November and March, with Howard taking the reins for the more troublesome away matches (a draw and defeat).

When Guzan and Howard reported to camp two and a half weeks ago, Klinsmann took them aside and explained his Copa America decision.

“It's a process that he went through that wasn't very pleasant," Klinsmann said of Guzan's Aston Villa season. "On the other hand, I know him pretty well. I know who he is. I know strengths, weaknesses.”

Howard, Klinsmann said, was “first class” in accepting the reserve role.

Guzan started all three pre-Copa friendlies and conceded one goal (a wonder strike by Puerto Rico). Howard played the second half of the first match and watched the others.

The third goalkeeper, Norwegian-based Ethan Horvath, reported to camp this week. He will turn 21 on June 9 and has yet to make a senior national team appearance.

The veteran goalies have been good friends for years and aided one another via calls and texts during their vexing Premier League seasons.

“I've always said that if you could build a goalkeeper and you could take this guy's hands, this keeper's feet, the brain would be Brad's,” Howard told ESPNFC.com. “For me, he's the best goalkeeping mind I've ever been around.”

Guzan needed a strong mind to endure Aston Villa's season, the worst in the club's 127-year history. Aside from on-field problems, he was involved in an off-field incident.

In January, in what British tabloids dubbed "Gum-gate," Guzan and teammate Joleon Lescott upset traveling Villa supporters by having a gum-spitting contest on the bench during an FA Cup match against Wycombe. The season had gone badly enough, and now the players didn't seem to care?

Fans pounded on the transparent dugout. The players allegedly turned and responded with expletives. Captain Micah Roberts intervened, and Coach Remi Garde issued a postgame statement.

The episode occurred early in a two-month stretch in which Guzan's form consigned him to No. 2 on the depth chart behind Englishman Mark Bunn. By March, though, the American was back in good graces.

The defeats, however, continued to mount.

Aston Villa's relegation has fueled speculation that Guzan might pursue a summer move to a top-level club in England or elsewhere in Europe. With one year left on his contract, he said he plans to report to training camp in July and help Aston Villa begin the long climb back to the Premier League.

Despite the rough season in England, Guzan said he doesn't believe he needs to reaffirm his value while on U.S. duty this summer.

"I have had good seasons over there. I've made saves and proven myself in terms of playing at the highest level," he said. "I've been fortunate to be a part of this national team for a few years now, so there's definitely no added pressure" at Copa America.

Klinsmann is confident Guzan rejoined the U.S. squad with a clear mind.

"Brad right now looks very confident, very balanced," he said. "And it seems like he left that year behind him."

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 1:36 PM with the headline "For Brad Guzan, nine months of hard labor."