🇬🇹🇺🇸 Guatemala No. 1 Nicholas Hagen uses Columbus chance to keep learning

The Guatemala starter with American roots feels he's developing in the U.S., even if he's not playing every game.

Reporting from Columbus

Nicholas Hagen is no glory-hunter. Not that you thought he was, mind you. The Columbus Crew goalkeeper just wants it to be clear.

You can understand why any player would want to come to Columbus these days, with the Leagues Cup win Sunday the second trophy-raise in nine months for Wilfried Nancy’s squad and the third final after a near-miss in the Concacaf Champions Cup.

Hagen already was lining up a move to the Crew in last year’s playoffs, even if his signing wasn’t announced until after the Crew won MLS Cup.

While he didn’t know he’d be joining the champion, there was something he did know when he agreed to move to Columbus: He probably wouldn’t be the starter.

So, why did a goalkeeper who is the undisputed No. 1 for a Concacaf national team with designs on making the 2026 World Cup accept a lesser role with a club team? Quite simply, it’s where he felt he’d learn the most.

“Look, I didn’t choose this team because it was the champion but because I knew it would make me better. At the end of the day, the national team knows that,” Hagen said after lifting the Leagues Cup trophy. “I made the choice along with really good communication with the manager. The goal with the national team is to make the World Cup, so I need to be in the best physical form, the best rhythm.

“I know I’m not playing all the games, but I’m training with the best, proving myself against them every day. That makes me grow. I’ve got a lot to prove when I go to the national team. It’s not about a 10-game performance. It’s one game. That motivates me to keep doing things well. Of course, it’s competition that helps you and makes you better.”

Hagen bodies Lionel Messi off the ball in a June friendly match between Guatemala and Argentina in Washington D.C. (Photo by Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Hagen’s opportunities to start for the Crew have been sporadic, but he debuted in April when back-up goalkeeper Evan Bush broke his arm in a match with Real Salt Lake. He then picked up the starting duties while typical No. 1 Patrick Schulte was with the United States at the Olympics, but Schulte returned in time to start the Leagues Cup Round of 16 and semifinal contests.

The picture became even cloudier when, the day after Hagen conceded twice in a Leagues Cup start against Inter Miami, the Crew traded for Mexican goalkeeper Abraham Romero.

Yet, there Hagen was in the starting lineup for the final against LAFC. Olivier Giroud’s header from a corner kick in the 57th minute beat him, but he made three saves and Cucho Hernandez took care of the rest in a 3-1 win for the Crew.

Nancy told Hagen before the semifinal that he’d get the starting nod, whether the Crew were playing the final or the third-place game four days later.

“Why? When he started, he did a good job. He saved a few goals,” Nancy said. “It was important for me to give him my trust and also give him the possibility to show he can help us. He did it, so I’m really proud of that.”

When the final whistle blew and the Crew became champions, Schulte was the first player off the bench, sprinting to embrace Hagen and showing, as the Guatemalan said, that “the goalkeeper union is solid in the Columbus Crew and it’s going to keep being better. At the end of the day, we want to keep getting better and for everyone to succeed. It doesn’t matter who plays.”

The goalkeepers (in red) jump for joy after the Leagues Cup final. (Photo by me)

Guatemala manager Luis Fernando Tena has no questions about who his starter is, with Hagen one of the first names on the team sheet for September’s home Nations League matches against Martinique and Costa Rica. Even at the club level it’s been some time since Hagen hasn’t been the locked-in starter at club level.

Full name Nicholas George Hagen Godoy, the 28-year-old always figured his path might go through the U.S. After all, he’s American. His grandfather was a Chicago native who worked for Pan Am and stayed in Guatemala even after the legendary airline went out of business.

That smoothed the way for a move to FC Dallas after Hagen impressed at a U-17 tournament with Los Chapines. Or, at least, he thought it would. Despite being recruited to the FCD academy by future U.S. national team assistant and MLS head coach Luchi Gonzalez, Hagen found himself in the ‘gray area’, with documents taking longer to process than he hoped.

Rather than fight paperwork and uncertainty, he opted to head home and sign with Municipal - one of two grandes in Guatemala.

He started from a young age with Los Rojos, arriving at the first team in 2016 and a year later becoming the youngest goalkeeper ever to win the Josue Danny Ortiz Trophy. The prize is awarded to the goalkeeper who concedes the least in a season and named after a Municipal goalkeeper who died after an on-field incident.

In that season, Hagen won one of two league titles he’d earn with Municipal. A year later, he earned his national team debut from manager Walter Claverí in a friendly against Cuba.

Quickly, Hagen felt he was becoming a big fish in a small pond.

“I learned a lot from Municipal. It’s a big club with a lot of history and they’re trying to do the right thing, but I thought I hit the ceiling,” he said. “I felt I could do better, do more - not as a group but in my individual goals - so I decided to go to Azerbaijan for a year.”

The options weren’t abundant for Hagen or for any Guatemalan player, with the country’s FIFA ban between 2016-2018 leading to fewer opportunities for players in Hagen’s age group to be spotted at international tournaments.

After a “great year on a personal level” with Sabail, he set off for Norway and helped Hamarkameratene earn promotion to the top division. His contract ended there in the summer of 2023 and he signed with Bnei Sakhnin in Israel. But when war broke out just a few weeks into his spell there, he requested a contract termination.

“I decided it’s not worth it. It’s about safety, and I was there to play soccer, not think about anything else,” he said. “The team was really helpful with that and ended the contract.

“Columbus came into the picture and at the time were still fighting in the finals, not champions yet. So, it was amazing seeing how they grew into the final stages last year. I came here, and it’s been really easy since day 1 - pushing everyone to compete and win it again.”

Hagen tests the metal of his Leagues Cup winners’ medal. (via Columbus Crew)

So, this is where Hagen is at for now, enjoying his team competing for trophies and competing for a starting spot. He hasn’t earned that place as often as he hoped this season, but he’s confident it will make him a better person, a better player and lead to plenty of glory in the future with the Crew and with Guatemala.