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Nick Rimando saves USMNT in Prague with strong 45 minutes in 1-0 over Czech Republic

By Matt Montgomery
Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Rimando played 45 minutes against Czech Republic in a friendly today. We'll take you through his game.

1-45': Nick Rimando sits quietly, patiently on the bench. Like a viper awaiting his prey. Are vipers patient? I don't even know. Regardless, it's not as if Brad Guzan was tested at all, really. Anything above that (with the US playing a less "first-choice" — a relative term if there ever was one — lineup in the second half, there was always going to be a test) probably would look alright.

45-60': Makes some passes out of the back

60': Rimando makes a great little stop with his foot. Hey, we get to see that week-in, week-out. Neat!

65' Rimando makes another great stop while his defense falls asleep directly in front of goal. He didn't really have any view of what was in front of him when he made that save, too. He's pretty good, he is.

70': Could Rimando ever end up first-choice ahead of Guzan? I'm biased. Like, really biased. But he's done well and coped with a shifty defense. He's probably also wondering who some of these kids are around him.

75': Rimando is silently wondering if this Vladimir Darida guy reads any Jacques Derrida. Something tells me... no.

80': Nick Rimando breathes a slight sigh of relief as the disorganization at the back isn't capitalized on by some Czech number 11. In fact, not capitalizing isn't really what he did — really, he just took a shot that went way, way too high. 'Alright,' thinks Nick. 'I can deal with this.'

82': Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky protests for a penalty. I'd imagine this is Rimando's inner dialogue: "Oh, I would've saved that. Tomas who? He plays for which team? Oh, it doesn't matter."

85': Another save. That's, what, three? He's got a pretty obstructed view on that shot, too. It takes the good save and makes it into a great one.

90': "Hey, defense? I'm still here. You can't go home until I leave." Rimando's forced to play sweeper, and he leaps off his line to scupper the attacker. He got a nice deflection on that one.

Right, not much else to say that hasn't been said. So let's just see what everyone else is saying, shall we?

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