Aston Villa’s Guzan looking towards World Cup

Aston Villa’s goalkeeping hero Brad Guzan is eyeing a place in the USA squad for next year’s World Cup.

The 25-year old, who is currently understudy to fellow American Brad Friedel at Villa Park, showed what he is capable of when he saved the day for the Villains in the Carling Cup against Sunderland on Tuesday night.

Guzan was the man of the moment, making four penalty saves – one in regular time and three in the shootout – to help send his side through to the quarter-finals of the competition.

Now, the ex-Chivas USA shot-stopper is looking to first oust Friedel to be number one choice before setting his sights on Everton’s Tim Howard who is the current USA number one.

"To be part of a World Cup is massive. Do I need to get the Villa jersey off Brad Friedel to replace Tim Howard? I think that would help,” Guzan said.

"Every player wants to go to a World Cup. It's in the back of my mind. It's one of those situations where you want to be playing week in and week out to be as sharp as possible.

"But games like at Sunderland maybe make the national team manager think 'when he does get games he is still sharp and contributing to the team'."

Although Guzan is vying for positions with both Friedel and Howard, he said he would definitely not have developed the way he has if it wasn’t for their experience and advice.

“I work with Tim all the time with the national team. It is always exciting whenever us Americans play against each other but, as soon as that whistle blows, it will be down to business,” he added.

"Brad has been doing the business for so many years and I don't have to look far for someone to model myself on,” he said of his Villa teammate.

"It's great to be able to work with him daily and I can only benefit."