NEW YORK – Josh Saunders made save after save on Wednesday night, robbing Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco to earn his third clean sheet of the season and keep New York City FC’s playoff hopes alive in a 2-0 victory over Toronto FC.
It would have been considered a spectacular performance if the 34-year-old veteran hadn’t done the same time and again throughout the expansion side’s first season.
Saunders leads MLS with 104 saves, an inauspicious statistic because it speaks to how busy, though consistent, he’s been with a revolving cast of defenders in front of him.
“I think that all season long he’s been one of our best players, if not our best player,” defender Chris Wingert said. “I’ve played with Josh for a while now and his personality is one that he’s a great guy in the locker room and the guys really feed off his positive energy and work ethic.”
To fully appreciate what Saunders has done this year, one needs to look at where he’s been. On July 13, 2013, while playing with Real Salt Lake, Saunders tore his ACL in a match against FC Dallas. He underwent surgery 10 days later, eventually missing the remainder of the season.
Two weeks later, Saunders found out he'd contracted a bone infection caused by the bacterium streptococcus, along with a candida fungus. He lost 30 pounds in two weeks as well as his complexion. But he never lost his will.
In all, Saunders had six surgeries in his long road to recovery. Nearly a year to the day after his season-ending injury, Saunders was signed by New York City FC, where he was reunited with former RSL head coach Jason Kreis.
“I think if I had to pick a guy who has been the most consistent for the entire year, I would say it was Josh Saunders, which is an incredible story again,” Kreis said. “The other part of it is he’s a tremendous leader for us. He’s really doing an incredible job of linking a lot of the guys in the locker room for us. That’s really important, especially for a first-year team.”
Saunders knew the challenge would be great from the outset. But he wasn’t about to shirk that responsibility. He embraced it from the outset.
“That’s always going to be a 'keeper’s job, to be a leader and allow yourself to organize a team and be responsible for the things that take place in front of you,” Saunders said. “I did take a lot of responsibility and I focused a lot on my game and what I can do to help the guys in front of me.”
