If there was one thing American goalkeeper Tim Howard was not able to do after his team's crushing loss against Belgium was celebrating his new World Cup record for the most number of saves done in a single tournament match. Howard made an astounding 16 saves in his valiant effort to aid the US advance to the quarterfinals in the World Cup. Overall, he made 24 saves in the entire tournament. This would be his second World Cup.
Howard's defense were later broken during extra time when Belgians Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku scored in the third and twelfth minutes of extra time. His teammate Julian Green managed to score one for their home country, but any efforts to equalize the score turn to naught due to the impressive Belgian defense.
On the other hand, FIFA appeared to have not been convinced with Howard's tenacity in the game. In an interview with ESPN Radio, Howard disclosed that he has been subjected to random drug testing, again.
The revelation came to be when ESPN Radio asked him about his somber mood despite his performance in the match. He said, "I got dragged into drug testing, again, randomly. So I didn't hear all of [the reactions]."
Howard even joked to the sports radio station that "maybe" the test stopped being random for him sometime between his 10th or 11th save.
ABC News noted that as per FIFA regulations, two players from both teams are being subject to random drug test by the other following the conclusion of each tournament match. There was no word on which of the Belgian team were subject to random drug testing. FIFA has yet to release Howard's drug test results. There has been no one in the tournament yet who has been tested positive for banned substances.
If one would wonder whether drugs might have played a role on Howard's impressive defense skills on Tuesday, the answer would be an obvious no, at least based on his advocacy. Howard is reportedly vocal about his position against drugs and is a spokesperson for a nonprofit drug prevention program called Natural High.
