After early success, failure in Europe, Zack Steffen sees a Rapids resurgence
Through seven regular season MLS games, Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen ranks as the top keepers in the league. In 14 months with the Rapids, the shot-stopper has reinvented and cemented himself as the top American keeper.
Steffen came up through the ranks as part of the Philadelphia Union’s youth system, but ultimately took the college route with the University of Maryland.
In two seasons as a Terrapin, the keeper accumulated a plethora of honors, including a spot on of the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman Team, 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Tournament’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player and 2014 Big Ten Conference Tournament Most Valuable Defensive Player.
After his sophomore season, Steffen left Maryland to sign a professional deal with German club SC Freiburg. The keeper made 14 appearances for Freuiburg’s reserve team, but the squad ended up being relegated to a lower division.
Before the start of Steffen’s second season in Germany, he was sold to the MLS’ Columbus Crew. The shot-stopper spent his first season in Columbus on loan with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. He impressed in his nine starts with Pittsburgh and was called back before the start of the 2017 season.
Steffen won the starting job ahead of the 2017 season and never looked back. In his first season as a pro clubs first choice keeper he started all 34 regular season games and led the Crew to the conference final. In the knockout round game against Atlanta United, the keeper made eight saves through 120 minutes of play. During the penalty shootout he saved two shots which was enough to push Columbus to the next round.
In 2018 Steffen was called up to the United States Men’s National Team and was featured as the regular starter for the team. USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter took a liking to the keeper. Steffen became the first player to be voted the U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year in their debut season.
The shot-stopper’s 2018 club season was even better. He made 32 starts for the Crew and had a 525-minute stretch where he did not concede a single goal. Steffen was named to the MLS’s All-Star Team and won the 2018 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year.
The goalie’s heroics with the Columbus Crew caught the eye of many European clubs in top leagues but ultimately English Premier League juggernaut Manchester City bought Steffen for an estimate of $7 million. That was the most amount of money an MLS team had received for a keeper.
The four years Steffen spent as part of Man City can only be described as underwhelming. Although his loan with Fortuna Düsseldorf during the first year in England was seen as successful, he never challenged the starting role at Man City. He kept a clean sheet in the 2021 English Football League Cup Final and impressed in his first Premier League start. But all the keeper’s minimal success in Europe will always be overshadowed by his blunder against Liverpool that resulted in a Sadio Mané goal.
With Steffen’s struggles in the prem, Berhalter chose Arsenal goalie Matt Turner to be the new starting keeper for the USMNT. Steffen failed to make the US’ 2022 World Cup roster
Steffen spent his last season with Manchester City on loan with EFL club Middlesbrough before signing with the Colorado Rapids in January 2024.
He had an amazing first year back in MLS, helping the Rapids reach the postseason a year after finishing in the bottom half of the league.
During Colorado’s League Cup run in the Summer, he had an amazing outing against CONCACAF’s top ranked team Club America. Steffen made numerous saves in regular time and in the shootout before scoring the game winning penalty. Steffen was named the League's Cup Best Goalkeeper.
Steffen looks amazing to start 2025. Through his first seven games of the season he has three clean sheets and several important saves. Steffen’s 12 save game against San Jose is the best performance by any American keeper this year. Every piece of data collected by the MLS ranks Steffen head and shoulders above everyone else as the best keeper in the league.
“Zack’s talent is unmatched," former USMNT and Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard said in an interview during his Hall of Fame induction. "I’ve always said about Zack he could be the greatest U.S. goalkeeper of all time...”
His success with Colorado led to Steffen being called back up to the main USMNT squad for the 2025 Nations League tournament. With Turner’s recent struggles, its only a matter of time before Steffen takes back the starting role for the 2026 World Cup.
"Today, he performed really, really well. A few saves that were amazing and showed the quality of the keeper.” said USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino after Steffen’s clean sheet against Costa Rica in January. "In this type of situation the keeper needs to save and he showed his quality … I think it is good for us the coaching staff to feel that we can trust him."
Steffen will make his eighth start of the season Saturday night at 6:30 pm M.T. when the Rapids head to Houston to take on the Dynamo. The game can be streamed on the MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.