The thing about GAA is it has just as much to do with the defenders as the goalkeeper.

Denz- Do you mean to suggest that whatever team had Rimando the past two years would have been to two Conference Championships? That seems absurd. DC missed the playoffs by 1 point each of the past 2 years. With a better goalie they would have made the playoffs.

When United parted ways with Rimando, they won two straight Supporters Shield. When United parted ways with Perkins, they missed the playoffs two straight years.

You ask if Perkins could have come up big when Rimando did in the 2004 EC finals. I’ve already pointed to the 3rd Revs goal in that game, which was entirely on Rimando flapping at a cross when he should have been on his line. I’d bet the farm on Perkins making the right decision and staying on his line there, and without that goal it’s 3-2 United in the 85th minute. It stands to reason that the Revs were less than likely to score a goal without a grievous individual mistake in that short amount of time. Who needs penalty kick saves when you can just win after 90 minutes?

On the 2000-2009 thing, I think you’re missing the point. This poll is about who made the difference in a United shirt in this decade. Rimando’s play at RSL is as irrelevant as what Perkins did with Valerenga.

The “run the joint” thing is just my way of busting your chops. It wasn’t meant as a serious jab or anything.

I’m not really sure where you get this:

…are you honestly saying you would rather have your last two years missing the playoffs than the last two years in Conference finals?

No one is offering up that argument. I also don’t think having Rimando granted you an automatic spot in the Conference Finals, just like not having him (or Perkins, for that matter) didn’t consign us to 2 years of being fairly poor. RSL made those conference finals because their teams did alright in the regular season and then sprung to life down the stretch. DC missed the playoffs in the past 2 years for a wide variety of problems. Goalkeeping was one of them, but having Rimando, Perkins, or Iker Casillas wouldn’t have made us a good team by itself. To keep it brief, a goalkeeper of quality would have gotten us into the playoffs, but our poor team defending, injured older players, lack of depth, and tired legs after a clogged schedule would have made the odds of advancing anywhere very long.

I’m totally in agreement with Shatz on GAA. Goals against average is totally misleading, because it credits an individual player for a team stat. Here’s a quick example to debunk that myth: Bouna Coundoul, who is about as erratic as the crazy guy in jail, has the 2nd best GAA in MLS history for keepers with over 1500 minutes played. How did this happen? He played on a hyperdefensive Colorado team that had to play every game in a bunker because their ability to possess and score goals were so low that it was the only way they could be any good. His GAA was a function of playing on a team that absolutely had to keep goals out at all costs.

One of the great things about soccer is that the numbers don’t tell you that much. By these numbers, Coundoul is better than either Perkins or Rimando. As anyone who has seen all 3 can testify, that’s ridiculous. Watch one 90 minute game from each, and you’d know you’d seen 2 good keepers and one guy that simply can’t be relied upon. To really find out about a player, you need to see him play rather than just see how many goals he scored or how many saves he made.