Gifted with the physical abilities to makeevery save possible, and even at times the seemingly impossible, D.C. Unitedgoalkeeper Bill Hamid has never lacked confidence. But during the past two months, in which Hamid was injuredas his U.S. Under-23 teammates failed to qualify for the Olympics and thenreturned to United to find his starting spot occupied by a red-hot Joe Willis,the young netminder's mettle was put to the test.
"I came back from qualifying and I wasjust out of it," admitted Hamid after a recent training session. "It was something that hit mehard. I had to get back in thegroove of things and I had to get my head right."
Returning to the form that saw him make sevenfantastic saves in a season-opening loss to Sporting Kansas City proved to beno small task. Behind Willis'unflappable play, D.C. went unbeaten in seven consecutive matches. The streak equaled the club's best runof form in three years, and gave head coach Ben Olsen little choice but tostick with his unheralded back up.
Hamid, for the first time in his fledglingcareer, was forced to wait.
"Obviously no one wants to be on thebench," the former United academy product acknowledged. "It was a good run of games thatwe had, but I want to be on the field. I want to perform and be a part of the starting eleven that makes it tothe playoffs."
Finally granted that opportunity this past weekend, Hamid responded. AgainstToronto he turned in a four-save effort behind a makeshift back line,delivering the type of performance expected from a player who earned his firstnational team cap earlier this year at just 21 years of age. The confidence that made Hamid greatduring his seven-shutout sophomore campaign is back, along with a sincereappreciation for Willis' work in propelling D.C. to the team's best start since2006.
"Joe is a good goalie. He performed extremely well and is a hard worker," Hamid said ofWillis, who was allowing less than a goal per game before last Wednesday's 5-3loss in San Jose. "But themotivation was myself. I wanted toget back on the field. It wasn'tabout beating a certain person out or anything. It was just that I know how good I am and what I'm capableof and I wanted to get back to that and show D.C. what I can do."
