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Tim Howard didn’t celebrate 100-yard goal because he felt bad

Dirty Tackle

Judging by the expression on Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard's face in the picture above, you might assume he was the keeper who just got scored on by his counterpart from 100 yards out instead of the one who just shocked and delighted his teammates and home fans by being the scorer. He was the scorer, though, putting Everton up 1-0 on Bolton in the 63rd minute with considerable help from the strong winds whipping around Goodison Park (see the goal here).

It was just the fourth goal scored by a keeper in the Premier League (which only dates back to 1992, when it replaced the old First Division, mind you) and second from an American (the other being Brad Friedel in 2004). It was also fellow American Landon Donovan's first match back with Everton since the start of his second loan spell with the club. And though ecstatic teammate Johnny Heitinga jumped into his arms, Howard kept his poker face and tried to move on with the match because he was thinking more about how bad opposing keeper Adam Bogdan must've felt at that moment.

From the AP:

"I was delighted that we were in the lead and would hopefully go on to get three points, but it's not a nice feeling for a keeper. It's really awful actually," Howard told Sky Sports. "For the back four and the goalkeepers at both ends, there was an awful wind swirling. You could see everybody was mistiming balls. Defenders were missing clearances that normally they would put up the field. I think the wind is the hardest condition to play in. Snow, rain, sun doesn't matter, but the wind really does play tricks on you."

Howard spoke with Bogdan after the match.

"I let him know that I was feeling for him," Howard said. "It's not a nice place to be. I've been there before, a long, long time ago, and that was why I didn't celebrate."

The sting of that goal was probably taken away by the fact that Bolton went on to score twice in just 15 minutes right after that to win 2-1. So it could've been worse for Bogdan. He could've been the goalkeeper who had the wind conspire to make him score on himself.

Here's video of Howard's goal...

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