MONTREAL – The closest Alessandro Nesta ever got to facing Jurgen Klinsmann in an official game is watching from the bench as Germany held Italy to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on June 19, 1996. But that doesn’t stop him from sending messages the USMNT head coach’s way.
“I hope [Troy Perkins] goes to play in the national team,” Nesta told reporters last week.
With ‘keepers Dida, Francesco Toldo and Gianluigi Buffon on his list of former teammates, Nesta can claim to be a decent judge of talent between the sticks. Whether or not Klinsmann feels, like Nesta, that Perkins should get a chance to add to his seven caps, numbers do support the Italian’s assessment in a way. Montreal’s 2-0 win over Houston last Wednesday was Perkins’ 65th in MLS, good enough to tie Mark Dougherty at No. 10 in the Wins column.
Yet for Perkins, breaking into the top 10 is nothing but “a feather in my cap.”
“It’s great to know,” Perkins told reporters. “But at the end of the day, I want a championship.”
Perkins’ landmark success wasn’t an overly spectacular one: the first of his two stops only came in the 82nd minute. But as is often the case with goalkeepers, Perkins’ performance couldn’t be fully appreciated from the stands or the living room.
MLS All-Star: Vote for Troy Perkins
Playing with veterans like Nesta and Matteo Ferrari, Perkins says, is easy and requires little communication (“It’s one word, two words, and they know what to expect.”). Therefore, on a night when opponents only fire shots wide from 25 yards, remaining concentrated is a constant struggle.
“Mentally, I’m still fatigued today, and it’s one of those things where you’re busy and you’re doing a lot,” Perkins said “It’s actually much easier on your body, you don’t feel it as much, but when you have a game like that when you have to stay focused and continue to talk for 90 minutes, it’s much tougher.
“People talk like I didn’t do much that game, but I think that was one of my harder games to play.”
But the situation is just fine to Perkins.
“I like to be in the background,” he said. “I don’t like to be the guy at the front getting the credit. I enjoy seeing these guys get all the credit for what they do.”
