Introduction
Tim Melia (/ˈmiːliə/; born May 15, 1986) is an American soccer player who currently plays as a goalkeeper for Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer.
Career
College and amateur
Melia was born in Great River, New York. Melia attended East Islip High School and played two years of college soccer at the State University of New York at Oneonta before transferring to Lynn University in 2006, where he played his junior and senior years.
Melia played for the Long Island Rough Riders in the USL Premier Development League in 2007.
Professional
Melia signed with the Rochester Rhinos of the USL First Division on April 30, 2008. An injury to veteran goalkeeper Scott Vallow resulted in increased playing time and a number of starts for Melia during the 2009 season, and he became known for his accurate long balls from goal kicks and dead ball situations.
After trialling with Real Salt Lake during their pre-season, Melia signed with the club on March 16, 2010; he was sent on loan to USL2 side Charleston Battery in April. Following his clean sheet June 29 in a U.S. Open Cup win over MLS side Chicago Fire (Charleston won 3-0 on penalty kicks), Melia was named "Player of the 3rd Round" for the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Melia was waived by Real Salt Lake on November 23, 2011.
Melia signed with Chivas USA in January 2012 and joined them during the 2012 pre-season. During his time with Chivas, Melia made six league appearances for the club.
Sporting KC
In August 2014, Sporting Kansas City called Melia up from the league pool after two of the team's three goalies, Eric Kronberg and Andy Gruenebaum, were injured. Melia did not make an appearance in 2014, but in December 2014, he signed with the club for the 2015 season.
After beginning the 2015 season as the understudy to starter Luis Marín, Melia emerged as the starter in May and was the primary goalkeeper for the remainder of the season. For his breakthrough efforts, Melia was named MLS Comeback Player of the Year.
Since earning the starting job, Melia has emerged as one of the top keepers in the league, and has led SKC to the U.S. Open Cup titles in both 2015, where SKC prevailed in a penalty shootout, and 2017, a hard fought victory against the New York Red Bulls. Following a 2017 season where he allowed a record-low 0.78 goals per game, Melia was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, and also earned a spot on the MLS Best XI.
Honors
Club
- Charleston Battery
- USL Second Division Champions (1): 2010
- USL Second Division Regular Season Champions (1): 2010
- Sporting Kansas City
- Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup: 2015, 2017
Individual
- MLS Comeback Player of the Year: 2015
- Man of the Match: 2015 US Open Cup Finals
- Player of the tournament: 2017 US Open Cup
- MLS Goalkeeper of the Year: 2017
- Sporting Kansas City Most Valuable Player: 2017
- MLS Best XI: 2017