Then Steffen got hurt during a championship showdown with Mexico, and Ethan Horvath stopped a potential tying penalty kick in the fading moments of an epic affair. A month later, Matt Turner, undrafted and unknown outside MLS circles, was almost perfect during a tournament run that ended with another victory over southern archrivals.
Steffen, a member of Manchester City’s Premier League championship last season, remains the front-runner, but after an illuminating summer, all three candidates arrived in national team camp this week with a case for playing time in the first set of qualifiers.