RSL’s Nick Rimando and Colorado’s Tim Howard have built a long friendship while battling to be the best in the U.S.

Teenage Nick Rimando and Tim Howard returned to find the door locked to the little bed and breakfast they were staying at on an international trip with the U.S. men’s youth national team squad.

It was dark and they were alone after having been allowed to roam the city that night. So they did what any young man with their athletic ability would do: they scaled the side of the house to climb in through their third-story window.

That’s the way Howard tells it, while Rimando said with a smile there aren’t any stories from their days as roommates on the youth national team squads that he can divulge publicly.

But the story serves as a nice metaphor for the now-veteran goalkeepers, who have been friends for decades and since have risen to become some of the best goalkeepers in MLS history. The two will meet agin Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium in the first installment of the 2018 Rocky Mountain Cup.

“Especially when we were young, we had a very bitter rivalry,” Howard said. “But our friendship never wavered throughout the years. There’s always been a very healthy respect.”

It’s been more than 20 years since they first met, but they still would describe each other the same now as when they first crossed paths.

Howard, 39, was, “Confident, big, bald, great goalkeeper,” Rimando said. “Someone that I knew was going to do big things, and he lived up to the hype.”

As for Rimando, 38, “He is a loyal and dear friend,” Howard said. “He is the class clown. He keeps everybody on their toes. A consummate professional. ”

Their professional paths diverged in 2003, when Howard left MLS after the MLS season to play in the English Premier League for the next 13 seasons, but they stayed in touch as both broke records and claimed championships in their respective leagues.

“Nick Rimando’s the greatest MLS goalkeeper there has been,” Howard said about the netminder who holds all-time league goalkeeping records for appearances, saves, shutouts and wins, to name a few. “I think the numbers would agree with that statement.”

Howard and Rimando became regular call ups for the U.S. men’s national team while playing professionally in separate countries.

Howard has been the No. 1 U.S. goalkeeper since 2007. He leads all USMNT goalkeepers in caps (121) and wins (62). He ranks second in shutouts (42) to Kasey Keller, just five behind his predecessor.

Rimando, a longtime national team member, has been caught behind Howard on the depth chart. Rimando has earned just 22 caps. Rimando’s international career peaked in 2013, when the U.S. won all six matches he appeared in. Five of those games were in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, where he kept a clean sheet in the championship against Panama.

Rimando, the king of penalty kicks, was called in as a guest goalkeeper coach for the U.S. during Copa America in 2016 — something Howard joked that he never will let him live down.

But when Rimando called him and fellow USMNT goalkeeper Brad Guzan to ask their thoughts on the opportunity, they said he should take it.

“We both agreed that having Nick around is always better than not,” Howard said.

They made a bet that year that whoever lost the Rocky Mountain Cup would have to let the other give him a tattoo. RSL has won both rivalry series since then, but the pair of veteran goalies hasn’t found a good time to follow through on the bet. Both said they’re confident it will happen one of these days.

“It’s really nice to be able to finish off our careers together,” Howard said, “even as bitter rivals once again.”