RENTON — Thibaut Courtois is one of the most decorated goalkeepers in the world. He's been the anchor at the back of Real Madrid for nearly a decade. He's played in three FIFA Men's World Cups previously as the starter for Belgium and is likely to be in that role for a fourth.
His backups for this World Cup aren't too shabby either. Senne Lammens played 32 matches this season as the new starter at Manchester United. Mike Penders is the next young Belgian star goalkeeper, all of 20 years old, and is in line to be a future starter for Chelsea.
And yet, the buzz of the Belgian national team camp the past few days has focused on the fourth goalkeeper taking part in the training sessions at the Sounders headquarters — Max Anchor.
Who? Huh? What?
“The last 48 hours have been kind of a dream, kind of crazy, being able to train with some of the world's best players,†Anchor said.
OK, maybe he's not the buzz of the camp for a team that's the favorite to win their group and try to make a deep run in the tournament. But it brought a curious eye when an unrecognized fourth goalkeeper trotted out to join the Red Devils for their first open training session on Wednesday.
It turned out to be the 21-year-old Anchor, the primary goalkeeper for Tacoma Defiance in the MLS Next Pro division and the No. 3 goalkeeper on the Sounders roster behind Andrew Thomas and Stefan Frei.
And he was there again on Thursday — a kid from Canada, playing for Seattle, helping Belgium get ready for the World Cup.
“We try to help him, welcome him. I think with goalies we are one family and it's always like this,†Courtois said before Belgium's training on Thursday. “He's a nice guy, wanting to learn, do his best and the players were pretty impressed with him that he made pretty good saves.â€
Anchor is in his first season with the Sounders after he signed last December. He was originally part of the Vancouver Whitecaps organization and started one match for the Whitecaps in 2022. But his experience was primarily playing for Whitecaps 2 in MLS Next Pro and for Pacific FC in the Canadian Premier League.
He's started nine matches in MLS Next Pro for Defiance this season.
“I'm just trying to take it all in and just see how they train, see how they carry themselves, just the little details,†Anchor said. “And they've been really, really good guys, all three of them. So it's just see what they do, see why they're at this at that top level, and how consistent they are and just trying to pick up on as many little things as I can.â€
Anchor said he arrived at the facility on Wednesday before Belgium got there and with the Red Devils using the Sounders first team locker room, he went to the Defiance locker room to start getting prepared.
But he was told, no, he belonged in with the team. Training with Belgium meant being with Belgium. And it just so happened that his locker stall was set up next to Courtois.
When he's there, he's a Red Devil, for now.
“The biggest thing for me is how welcoming everybody was, from the chefs, to the kit man, to the physio, to the medical staff, players, everybody was super, super welcoming,†Winter said. “You could see how tight of a group it is.â€
The opportunity for Anchor to fill this role can be traced to RB Leipzig. Belgium head coach Rudi Garcia wanted to have four goalkeepers available for training leading into the tournament, but RB Leipzig reportedly did not permit Maarten Vandevoordt to fill that role.
Anchor was told by Sounders goalkeeper coach Tom Dutra about a month ago that Belgium could be looking for an additional goalkeeper. But then there were crickets until last weekend when Anchor told Dutra he was headed back to Seattle after a few days in Vancouver and the response from his coach was he'd be training with Belgium.
No disrespect to the Defiance, but training with Belgium is a bit of an upgrade. He said a lot of his time was spent helping on finishing drills and small-sided games where having a fourth goalkeeper is helpful in balancing out teams and allowing for multiple games to be played at the same time.
For the moment, Anchor's time with Belgium is done, at least until next week. He won't be part of training the couple of days before a match, but is expected to help out a little as the tournament moves forward. After playing Egypt next Monday, the Red Devils don't play again until facing Iran on June 21 in Los Angeles.
“It's been super cool and I'm just super grateful to experience it,†Anchor said.
