Three days was all it took to show why Tim Melia became Sporting KC’s star goalkeeper
Standing in a farmer’s field on the outskirts of Oklahoma City on a cold winter day in December 2014, Tim Melia ran through practice drills with a group of other goalkeepers.
It was run of the mill stuff — basic footwork and positioning in the net, playing with the ball at his feet, making all sorts of saves from the small group of outfield players also participating in the workout.
But for Melia, it was a little more than a run of the mill practice. It was a chance for him to prove himself and finally get back into a Major League Soccer squad.
It’s a story that Sporting KC fans are all too familiar with: Melia’s ascent from a pool goalkeeper to one of MLS’s best shot-stoppers. Melia himself is quite tired of telling the story himself.
But in the wake of Melia breaking Sporting Kansas City’s career save record against FC Cincinnati on Oct. 28, the opening days of Melia’s monumental rise with Sporting KC are quite important.
Earlier in the 2014 season during his final season with Chivas USA, Melia was forced into the pool goalkeeper duty by way of his contract with Major League Soccer. He’d been uprooted from his Los Angeles home multiple times for emergency call-ups with DC United and FC Dallas, and most notably, a month spent in Kansas City backing up Jon Kempin.
At the end of his stint in KC that ran through August and September 2014, Peter Vermes was left impressed by Melia’s effort in practice but had just a few parting words: “Let’s wait. Let’s see where we are in a few months.”
And so those months passed by and Melia patiently waited, until he finally received the phone call from Vermes.
He wanted Melia to spend a week with the Oklahoma City Energy, who at the time was being coached by former Sporting KC goalkeeper and 2012 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Jimmy Nielsen.
“Long story short, after three days, I told (Melia) that I’ve seen enough and that he doesn’t have to stay the whole week,” Nielsen told The Star.
It’s a statement that could either be really good or really bad. Luckily, for Melia, it was the former.
“I called Peter and very, very simple said to him ‘He’s a fantastic goalkeeper. I think you should sign him. And if you don’t sign in, I will sign him down here in Oklahoma,’” Nielsen said.
Playing on that makeshift soccer field that occupied a plot of land on the farm of the owner of the OKC Energy, Melia seemed to finally made the breakthrough with an MLS team at 28 years old.
And that’s where that part of the storytelling ends, regarding Melia’s ascension from pool goalkeeper to perhaps Kansas City’s greatest ever goalkeeper.
Because that’s not where Melia’s MLS story even began. It began as a backup goalkeeper with Real Salt Lake and then later Chivas USA.
His three days spent in Oklahoma are simply where the plaudits began.
“He was really good, a very powerful goalkeeper,” Nielsen said. “Technically very good, built well, got good feet, I think he fits in perfectly in the way Sporting Kansas City play. I think he’s got everything that you’re looking for in a modern goalkeeper.”
Since Melia’s arrival in Kansas City he’s not only broken the franchise records for goalkeeper victories and shutouts, but he also recently eclipsed legendary U.S. Men’s National Team and Sporting KC keeper Tony Meola for the most saves in club history.
That’s not by pure, dumb luck.
Learning from the greats
Melia has been taking inspiration from goalkeepers around the world for years, whether they played in Europe’s elite leagues or goalkeepers he himself has sat behind as a backup.
“The biggest thing as a goalkeeper, you have to kind of take little bits and pieces from everyone that you come across and then create your own style of play,” Melia told The Star after surpassing Meola’s record.
Chief among those is former Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando — that’s the same Rimando who holds MLS records for career wins, shutouts, saves and overall appearances.
Melia sat behind Rimando for two years in 2010 and 2011. It was a double-edged sword for the then-young goalkeeper. On one hand, he got to learn from one of the greats. On the other, he wasn’t getting a sniff of first-team action.
“For a goalkeeper, some people don’t notice, but just how balanced and ready you are at all times and that’s something that Rimando is perfect at a lot of the times,” Melia said. “Where it kind of looks like he’s just standing there but he’s able to react.”
Melia’s second chance at a future in MLS came with Chivas USA from 2012-14, when he made a handful of starts but didn’t record an MLS victory.
During his time in LA, Melia backed up goalkeeper Dan Kennedy. Kennedy didn’t hold the same credentials as Rimando, but he still came second in the 2012 Goalkeeper of the Year voting — behind Nielsen — despite Chivas finishing dead last in the Western Conference.
“Kennedy was always in a good spot and always seemed to make a good decision on putting himself into that spot so those are two really big characteristics,” Melia said.
Looking abroad, Melia didn’t watch a lot of soccer growing up. But he does see both Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer and former Manchester United, Ajax and Juventus standout Edwin van der Sar as influences.
“van de Sar for me was someone that stayed in his box and played at such a later age because he just did the things he was supposed to do and he was a leader and a quality guy for his team,” Melia said. “And he played long and had success for long.”
But taking inspiration from other goalkeepers is only part of the task for Melia. The other side is creating your own style of goalkeeping and finding a club and culture that will allow you to thrive.
That’s exactly what Sporting Kansas City is for Melia.
More than just a set of hands
Melia has always been good with his feet. It’s the reason why Vermes first sent him down to Oklahoma and why Nielsen sent him straight back to Kansas City.
“He just fits in perfectly in that style, like I fitted in really perfectly with the style they played back then. The game changed and he has that modern goalkeeper in him,” Nielsen said. “He’s good with his feet, calm with his feet, he doesn’t stress out in stressful situations, you can see the backline trusts him 100%. He fits in with the style of play.”
Oftentimes teams will just see that a goalkeeper is good at stopping shots and bring him in purely on that basis. But once he gets on the field and doesn’t live up to expectations, questions are asked as to why the club brought him in in the first place.
But that’s not the Sporting Kansas City way. That’s why the club has now produced three All-Star goalkeepers in its short history.
In recent years, Kansas City has opted to play out of the back and likes to integrate its goalkeepers into that process. A keeper who can’t comfortably control and distribute the ball would be a disaster.
“I had to learn it,” Melia admitted. “With playing out of the back, it isn’t always technical but are you comfortable picking your head up under pressure and just playing a simple pass.”
But it’s not just playing the simple pass.
“It’s understanding how you need to open up for one player, you need to be closer for one player, you need to make sure you’re opening up to the right side on their foot for a different player,” Melia said. “It’s just kind of creating that gel.”
And sometimes mistakes happen.
In the first 30 seconds of Sporting KC’s home game against Chicago on Oct. 7, Melia botched a pass and sent it straight to the feet of a Chicago player. Just moments later he conceded a penalty trying to make up for his mistake.
“I don’t get discouraged when I made mistakes,” Melia said. “It’s more important, as cliche as it sounds, that your next action as a goalkeeper is more important.”
Yet following that cliche, Melia made amends for both of those mistakes as he dove to the right and pushed away Robert Beric’s penalty. Kansas City went on to win that game 1-0.
It’s that confidence in himself that has allowed Melia to surpass the incredibly high standards set by Meola in Kansas City’s days as the Wizards.
“You can control such small actions, or the ends of actions almost,” Melia said. “So I think it’s important to put yourself in the best position, give yourself the best opportunity and then make your decision.”
“If you can maintain that as a youth all the way through however long you play, I think that’ll just put you in a better position for success.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Three days was all it took to show why Tim Melia became Sporting KC’s star goalkeeper."