Luis Robles is set to start for the New York Red Bulls against Real Salt Lake on Saturday and continue his MLS-record "Iron Man" streak. Robles holds the record for consecutive games started, after surpassing Chris Klein's mark of 141 when he took the field against the Colorado Rapids on March 11.
But as he looks across the field at the RSL goal, he might reflect that this is actually the last place he wants to be.
Robles got a call into the United States national team camp in January, and with Tim Howard making his way back from injury and Brad Guzan sitting on the bench in Middlesbrough waiting for his Atlanta move, the Red Bulls player surely entertained hopes that the logjam in the U.S. goalkeeping depth chart might be opening up to give him a chance at a reserve slot for this month's World Cup qualifiers.
Instead, both Howard and Guzan were called up, and RSL's Nick Rimando got his familiar invite for the third goalkeeping slot. Even when Guzan had to drop out, it was San Jose's David Bingham who got the call ahead of Robles. That Bingham is unlikely to play and might have partly gotten the edge because the Honduras qualifier takes place in San Jose will be little consolation to Robles.
Had Robles gotten the call that has eluded him during so many regular-season FIFA international breaks during his time in New York, it would have finally ended his appearance streak in the only manner he would have wanted such a run to end -- with national team recognition. Instead, it leaves his longevity implicitly damned with the faint praise of being good enough to always start in MLS, but not good enough to be called into the national team.
If that sounds unfair, it is. When Howard played his first game coming back from injury for the Colorado Rapids, it happened to be at Red Bull Arena on the day Robles broke the MLS record. Asked about Robles' run afterward, Howard segued into an oddly graceless remark about the "big step up" to international level from MLS. It's true, but it sounded strangely patronizing and echoed a lot of the unscientific consensus about Robles not looking the part, an idea that seems especially arbitrary when set against the continued international presence of the physically and stylistically similar Rimando.
Robles, himself, is too polite to make his claim publicly, but privately he'll admit to being "curious about the numbers" when it comes to his performances set against other leading contenders.
Set against Rimando, those numbers are inconclusive, just favoring the incumbent. In fact, at first glance, Rimando's 93 goals conceded going back to 2014 compared with 141 for Robles makes the difference between the two look pretty conclusive. But a goalkeeper is often only as effective as his defense, and Robles had some shaky ones in front of him earlier in his New York career. He has faced 448 shots on target compared with Rimando's 330 in the same period, and he made 307 saves compared with Rimando's 237. In that light, Robles' 68.5 save percentage looks negligibly different to Rimando's 71.8. -- certainly not enough for the numbers to default entirely to one goalkeeper rather than the one who happens to be in form at any given moment.
Nobody's owed a slot, of course, and goalkeeping is one of those positions where outside assessments manage to be both fickle and absolute. A couple of years ago, a popular assumption was that the future of the national team conversation would be Sean Johnson and Bill Hamid trading the No. 1 spot in the manner Howard and Guzan have done of late.
Somewhere along the line, that succession conversation got derailed; and with William Yarbrough's form at Leon, then Bingham's emergence as the latest popular MLS goalkeeping darling, Johnson, Hamid and, yes, Robles have found themselves on the outside looking in.
It might not be a priority for many fans right now -- after all, we're talking about the third goalkeeping slot, rather than whether Christian Pulisic starts and where. Yet the events of recent months, with injury and lack of match fitness keeping Howard and Guzan from peak efficiency, have showed how circumstances can change quickly and how largely untested depth at any position can quickly become an issue. We know Rimando can perform if called upon, but a few more auditions for other backup contenders at meaningful team camps would be no bad thing.
In the meantime, there's little more Robles can do to state his case other than to continue in goal for the Red Bulls. He will suit up for them yet again Saturday, extending a record streak he'd happily have snapped this week.