You might be asking yourself who in the heck is Timo Hildebrand? I know I did when I first saw the article over at Sounder at Heart. I’m still not sure if I know who Timo Hildebrand is or why he would come to the Seattle Sounders. Let me give you a little information after I did some research on Hildebrand.
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Hildebrand is a former German International goalkeeper that was in town a few months back training with the Sounders. I actually didn’t hear that he was in town so that was a complete shock to me. In all honesty, why would the Sounders be looking at another goalkeeper? He is a goalkeeper that is eight years older than current Sounders goalkeeper, Stefan Frei. Frei has had his up and downs this season but the last six matches he has played in, including four post-season matches, he has been one of the best in the league.
Hildebrand has played for VfB Stuttgart, Valencia, 1899 Hoffenheim and Schalke 04 to name a few. Those are some recognizable names in European soccer. As I mentioned earlier he also played for the German National team in many different competitions–Euro 2004, 2005 Confederations Cup and 2006 World Cup. During the 2006 World Cup he was the only member of the team not to play.
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You may be saying to yourself like I did earlier, do we need Hildebrand on the team? Honestly it couldn’t hurt. Not that he has announced anything but Marcus Hahnemann might be retiring. He is 43 after all. Josh Ford would seemingly be the one to step up to fill the number two spot. If we know anything about the Sounders and their front office, they will never be afraid to bring in players to shake up the roster.
Do I see Hildebrand coming to the Sounders? I see it as a huge possibility. Do you think he will be the number one ‘keeper? No, not at this point. Frei proved over the last six weeks that he deserves to be the number one man between the posts. It would be beneficial to have a veteran of his caliber on the bench to back up Frei if need be.
I just don’t see it happening. It is the beginning of the off-season for the Sounders, so let all of the crazy talk begin. Who knows, maybe Cristiano Ronaldo will be linked to the Sounders before next March (I’m kidding).