Club legend, ‘killer at heart’ & so many PK saves: Tim Melia retires as SKC great

Kansas City has had some of the best goalkeepers in Major League Soccer history. One of them officially announced his retirement this week.

“As I reflect on my time at this club, I am filled with deep gratitude for each and every one of you who has made this such an incredible journey,” Tim Melia said in a video posted to X (formerly Twitter).

“I am truly happy to retire at a place that has been such a significant part of my career,” he continued. “Over the past 10 seasons playing here, it’s been more than a job. It has been filled with lifelong experiences, building memories, lessons and relationships that I will cherish forever.”

Melia joined Sporting Kansas City while part of the MLS goalkeeper pool. He spent the better part of a month with the club while some goalkeepers were injured. But he eventually had to return to the “pool” and later received calls from D.C. United and FC Dallas.

In an interview with The Star, Melia recalled a conversation with then-manager Peter Vermes as Melia left after his month-long stint at the club. Vermes told him Sporting would explore options to bring him back

“I was like, ‘All right buddy, sure you are, I’ll see you later,’” Melia said. “I did not expect anything to come out of it, just because I knew who their goalies were.”

But right after the season ended, Sporting sent Melia to train with Jimmy Nielsen.

“They signed me,” Melia said. “And from there, the rest is history.”

Literally.

For the next decade, Melia was the unquestioned starting goalkeeper, putting up performances and numbers that will forever be in history books, including two U.S. Open Cup wins.

Melia is the club’s all-time leader in saves (746) and shutouts (69). He has made the fourth-most appearances of any player in club history (260) and sits fourth in minutes played (23,295).

Three times, Melia was named club defensive player of the year. He was the MLS comeback player of the year in 2015 and then goalkeeper of the year in 2017. That 2017 season was magical, as Melia allowed a club-low 0.78 goals against over the season.

He also holds the club record for most saves in a game, a 10-save performance on the road against the Los Angeles Galaxy on April 8, 2018.

That’s a lot of accolades there. And we haven’t even gotten to the penalty-kick records.

‘He was a killer at heart’

One aspect that made Tim Melia great was his consistency. When it was time to make a big save, you almost always expected him to come through. The times he wouldn’t were almost a shock.

But there was also never a worry about bouncing back from a mistake.

“Win, loss or draw, good game or a bad game, he was the same person again,” current SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp told The Star. “Obviously, he would be upset with losses or bad performances, but it just didn’t faze him in a negative way, which is such an important trait as a goalkeeper.”

Melia exuded calm on the field in the midst of the chaos: the highs of big moments and the lows of bad ones.

Pulskamp recalled the penalty kick shootout against the San Jose Earthquakes in 2020. Melia stonewalled each San Jose penalty taker, and Sporting won the shootout. Melia never lost a PK shootout in his career, winning five shootout appearances with Sporting and two others elsewhere.

“I remember being on the bench and being quite pumped up,” Pulskamp recalled. “And after the game, I came into the locker room and gave him a big hug. I was all excited, and he was just chilling. He said, ‘The job’s not finished.’”

Underneath his cool, calm exterior, though, was a fiery competitor. And it came out at times. Especially in that shootout.

After stonewalling the first two penalties, Melia remained composed. Then, the final penalty was taken and saved. As he got up, Melia turned to the Earthquakes players and directed a few expletives their way after eliminating them from the playoffs before turning to celebrate with teammates.

“He was just so good at being cool, calm and collected … almost nonchalant,” Pulskamp said. “But we all knew that deep down he was a killer at heart.”

“I am insanely competitive, but I’m also very calculated,” Melia said. “I will show my emotion when I have to.”

Leader by example

That could also be said for Melia’s handling of leadership. Melia was never an outright club captain, despite wearing the armband on occasion. He wasn’t much of a rah-rah guy or a vocal leader. He let his actions do the talking.

“It wasn’t really his style to stand up and just address everybody,” Pulskamp said. “Don’t get me wrong. He had those moments where he did that when he felt it was needed. But he was somebody who was just the prime example of leading by example.”

Melia’s routines were intense, detailed and well thought out. Pulskamp credits his mentality as what made him so good at his job. He treated it like a job. Every day he punched in, working to get better.

His pregame routine was tailored to what he thought he’d need to brush up on based on the opponent. And it got harder and more intense as Melia got older.

“Our warmups for pregame were probably the hardest day of the week for me,” goalkeeper coach Alec Dufty said.

Dufty began working with Melia around the same time as Melia’s arrival. The amount of work he did increased, too, as he got further in his career.

“He was always on a mission to get better,” Dufty said.

Melia’s leadership among the goalkeepers was the same as it was in the locker room. He led with his work. He stayed composed and often kept to himself.

But if he needed to say something, he did.

“He picked his times when he said things,” Dufty said. “And when he said it, everybody listened. ... It was moments when things needed to be said in the locker room or in meetings. He wasn’t always the first one to speak up, but when he did, everyone listened. And I think he earned that through the work.”

The penalty saves

Melia made 18 penalty kick saves in the regular season, second most in MLS history. The average conversion rate for penalty kicks in a match is nearly 76%. Players converted fewer than 60% of penalty kicks against him.

He had a 43.9 save percentage on penalty kicks faced in MLS, the highest all-time among keepers with 15 penalties faced.

But on to the penalty shootouts ...

Melia is a perfect 7-0 in the most “tossup” decider of the most crucial games. In those seven shootouts, Melia faced 31 penalties and saved 12 of them. While no footage could be found of two of Melia’s penalty shootout performances that predated his time with Sporting KC, we do have footage of the other five.

In those five, Melia faced 24 penalty kicks, saved 10 and went the correct way 18 times. So he got his research wrong only six times — out of 24.

What’s the trick?

Melia will tell you it’s his homework, and usually deflected praise to his teammates for making their penalty kicks as the reason for his spotless record. That homework for all goalkeepers consists of a variety of things: the taker’s plant foot, his eyes, his hips and more.

Each player’s history is accounted for, too.

Dufty, who helped Melia prepare for so many of those penalty shootouts, credited Melia’s memory as one of the main things that set him apart. In preparing for a postseason or cup match shootout, there’s a possibility of 20 different takers based on who starts and who comes off the bench.

“So when you’re going through that kind of scenario, not just looking at the first five guys … it was always very amazing to me to see that he could hold all of that information even through the week of training and preparing for an opponent,” Dufty said.

What’s next?

Melia had some opportunities to play this year. One strong rumor linked him to D.C. United early in the offseason process. But none of the opportunities seemed worth uprooting his whole family for.

Tim Melia will be a shoo-in to have his name on the wall of Sporting Legends, next to goalkeeping greats like Tony Meola and Jimmy Nielsen. Melia said he wishes he had an MLS cup to rival their accomplishments.

“But it’s just an honor to be named in that category of goalkeepers,” Melia said.

Melia will be honored at Sporting’s match against St. Louis City on Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park.

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 11:44 AM.