Chris Klein (soccer)

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Chris Klein
Personal information
Full name	Chris Klein
Date of birth	January 4, 1976 (age 30)
Place of birth	St. Louis, MO, United States
Height	6'1
Position	midfielder
Club information
Current club	Real Salt Lake
Number	17
Youth clubs
1994-97	Scott Gallagher DeSmet High School Indiana
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1998-05 2006-	Kansas City Wizards Real Salt Lake	216 (42) 20 (2)
National team**
2000-04	United States	21 (5)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 March 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 31 July 2006.

Chris Klein (born January 4, 1976 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American soccer player, who currently plays right midfielder for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer.

Klein played four years of college soccer at Indiana University, from 1994 to 1997. In total, he started 88 games for the Hoosiers, registering 11 goals and 11 assists as a senior.

Upon his graduation, Klein was selected fourth overall by the Kansas City Wizards in the 1998 MLS College Draft. He received little playing time as a rookie, starting eight games and substituting into nine, and scored no points. Starting in 1999, however, Klein began to cement a place for himself as one of the league's best midfielders; in the 1999 season, Klein started 24 games for the Wizards, registering six goals and five assists. He started 26 games in 2000, scoring six goals and eight assists, helping the Wizards to an MLS Cup victory. Klein has been an equally important part of the Wizards midfield for the last four years, although his 2004 campaign was cut short by a torn ACL. He came back in 2005 and was named MLS Comeback Player of the Year for the second time in his career, his first coming in 2002. However, before the 2006 season, Klein was traded to Salt Lake for an allocation.

Klein has been a fringe player for the United States national team for the last several years. He received his first cap October 25, 2000 against Mexico, his debut for the men's national team at any age level. He has played in a total of 16 games for the national team, scoring three goals; his best year was 2003, when he played in seven games, and scored all three of his goals.

[edit] See also

• List of current MLS players

Real Salt Lake - Current Squad
1 Garlick | 2 Akwari | 3 Talley | 4 Broome | 5 Torres | 7 Williams | 8 Worthen | 9 Kreis | 10 Ballouchy | 11 Brown | 12 Hashimoto | 13 Harris | 15 Cutler | 16 Forko | 17 Klein | 19 Novak | 20 Besagno | 21 Jimenez | 22 Watson | 23 Pope | 24 Trembly | 25 Soto | 28 Acosta | 30 Gil | 31 Stewart | 74 Cunningham | – Adu | – Rimando | Coach Ellinger