MONTREAL—Evan Bush doesn’t hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You could hardly blame the Montreal Impact goalkeeper if he did. But he doesn’t.
Money was very tight for the Cleveland City Stars when Bush played for the USL First Division club towards the end of the 2009 season. The team travelled to Portland and Vancouver for its last two games of the campaign when Bush and his teammates received a surprise at breakfast.
“We were out west for 10 days and every morning, instead of giving us a proper breakfast, they had us come down to the team manager’s room and we had to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That’s all the team could afford,” Bush recalled in a recent interview with Sportsnet.
The steady diet of PB&Js was typical of what Bush experienced in North American soccer’s lower leagues with Cleveland, the Cape Cod Crusaders and Crystal Palace Baltimore. Other hardship was being overlooked during the 2008 MLS SuperDraft out of the University of Akron, one of the top NCAA soccer programs. Then he spent the Impact’s final year in the NASL as the club’s starting goalkeeper, only to be relegated to the bench in 2012 when Montreal played its first season in MLS.
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A 28-year-old native of Ohio, Bush has gone through a lot of ups and downs in his career. He’s used that to his advantage, though.
“Some of experiences I had earlier in my career were dreadful. At the same time, though, they made me a strong person and a stronger player. I don’t think I’d be where I am today without having gone through that stuff,” Bush said.
Today, Bush is a regular starter for the Montreal Impact in MLS play, splitting time with veteran Troy Perkins, and serving as the club’s No. 1 in the Amway Canadian Championship (which Montreal won) and the CONCACAF Champions League (they’ve reached the quarterfinals).
Bush made one league appearance during each of the 2012 and 2013 MLS seasons under previous coaches Jesse Marsch and Marco Schallibaum. This year, he’s been given a chance to play more under Frank Klopas.
“Frank has confidence in me. To be fair, I don’t think Marco or Jesse didn’t have confidence in me—I think Marco owed Troy the chance. Troy had a very good season [in 2013] and we were in the playoff picture, so it wasn’t a great time to make a change. I had a good relationship with Marco, but this year the situation has allowed for more playing time,” Bush said.
Headed into Saturday’s road contest against Toronto FC, Bush has started 11 of Montreal’s 32 games with three shutouts. Perkins, a veteran of 10 MLS seasons with over 200 appearances, has started 21 games and earned five clean sheets. Perkins started the season as the club’s firm No. 1, but Klopas has gone back and forth between him and Bush since mid-July.
Bush admits there are “some difficulties” to Klopas’ rotation system. It does have its advantages, though.
“Once you get to a certain age there’s only so much technique that you can learn as a goalkeeper. But you never stop developing your mental game—how to deal with certain things on and off the pitch. I pick Troy’s mind about that stuff quite a bit and we’ve had a very good working relationship,” Bush insisted.
“Our wives are good friends, and our kids hang out. It’s a relationship that a lot of people don’t understand because they think we’re fighting for the same job so we can’t be friends. But we are. The way we work together, you’d be hard pressed to find another goalkeeping partnership in MLS that works as hard as we do at our craft. We both take advantage of that.”
This season has been an adjustment for Bush, who cites Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon as his goalkeeping hero.
“I’ve got more chances this year so the mistakes I’ve made are more magnified. When you only play in the Champions League and Canadian Cup games, it’s easy top get your mind right for every two or three weeks. But when you’re playing two or three games each week, that’s when you have to start developing more consistency,” Bush said. “The mental strain is more pronounced.”
What about the future? What does it hold for Bush?
“I see myself being here. I have another option year left on my contract. It’s up to the club but I think they’ve been been happy with my progress and they see me as a guy who’ll be here long-term,” Bush said.
