Kasey Keller

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Kasey Keller
Personal information
Full name	Kasey C. Keller
Date of birth	November 29, 1969 (1969-11-29) (age 38)
Place of birth	Lacey, WA, U.S.
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Fulham
Number	1
Youth clubs
1988–1991	Colonial Meats North Thurston High School Portland Pilots
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1989 1992–1996 1996–1999 1999–2001 2001–2005 2004 2005–2007 2007–	Portland Timbers Millwall Leicester City Rayo Vallecano Tottenham Hotspur → Southampton (loan) Borussia Mönchengladbach Fulham	010 (0) 178 (0) 099 (0) 051 (0) 085 (0) 004 (0) 078 (0) 013 (0)
National team2
1990–2007	United States	102 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:20, 15 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 9 June 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Kasey C. Keller, (born November 29, 1969 in Lacey, Washington, United States) is a football goalkeeper, who plays for Fulham of the English Premier League. He is a four time World Cup participant and one of the first American goalkeepers to become a regular in the English Premier League.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Millwall 1.3 Leicester City 1.4 Rayo Vallencano 1.5 Tottenham Hotspur 1.6 Borussia Mönchengladbach 1.7 Fulham 2 International career 3 Trivia 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Keller played his college career at the University of Portland. As a freshman in 1988, he helped lead the team to the NCAA men's soccer final four. He earned first team All American as a senior and was the 1991 Adidas Goalkeeper of the Year. During the 1989 college off-season, he played for the Portland Timbers of the Western Soccer Alliance. His outstanding play led to his selection as league MVP that year. In 10 games, he allowed only four goals for a 0.38 goals-against-average and eight clean sheets.

In 1989, he split his time between the Portland Timbers and the U.S. U-20 national team which finished fourth at the 1989 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Keller once again excelled and was awarded the tournament's Silver Ball as the tournament's second best player.

[edit] Millwall

After being a member of the US National Team in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, he was signed by the English club Millwall, playing there and becoming a fan favorite between 1992 and 1996. Keller made his Millwall debut on May 2, 1992 and played his last game on May 5, 1996, making 202 overall appearances for The Lions. When the Millwall fans discovered that Keller wore contact lenses when keeping goal, he was nicknamed "Mister Magoo." Keller was voted Player of The Year 1992/93 by the Lions fans and also picked up the Junior Lions and Disabled Millwall Fans' awards. When Millwall was relegated to the Second Division, the team transferred Keller to Leicester City for £900,000 on August 15, 1996.

[edit] Leicester City

In his first year with Leicester City, Keller played a vital part in the team's success in both a strong league position and winning the 1997 League Cup. Unfortunately, while the team reached the final again in 1999, a last minute goal lost them the match. That summer, he left the club for Spain on a free transfer.

[edit] Rayo Vallencano

Keller signed with the newly promoted Spanish club Rayo Vallecano for the 99/00 season and played there for two years.

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

Keller went back to England and the Premier League in 2001, signing with Tottenham Hotspur. Relegated to backup duty for Neil Sullivan early on, he won the starting spot, and played every minute for Spurs in both the 2002–03 and the 2003–04 seasons.

In the 2004–05 Premiership season, Keller fell out of favor at Tottenham as Paul Robinson became the first choice keeper. In November 2004, Kasey was loaned out to Southampton, a Premiership club ravaged by injuries to its goalkeepers, for one month.

[edit] Borussia Mönchengladbach

On January 15, 2005, Keller joined German Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach on a free transfer during the Bundesliga's winter break. He got off to a good start in the Bundesliga, keeping a clean sheet in his first appearance for Borussia. Keller played every minute in the second half of the season and kept a total of seven clean sheets in that period, playing an important role in saving the club from relegation.

Keller also lives in Haus Donk, a castle in Tönisvorst, near Mönchengladbach.^[1][2] During the 2006–07 season he was one of the two Bundesliga players that are hobby-columnist for RUND, a German football magazine published once each month, reflecting his life in Germany and his Bundesliga career within those lines. He shares that role with VfB Stuttgart's shot-stopper Timo Hildebrand.

On August 10, 2006 Keller was selected by his teammates to captain club side Borussia Mönchengladbach during the 2006–07 campaign. He is the second American (after Claudio Reyna) to captain a top level German club.

[edit] Fulham

In August 2007, Keller returned to the English Premier League, signing for Fulham.^[3] The length of Keller's contract and financial details were not disclosed by the club. He was bought as a back-up to goalkeeper Antti Niemi, but some bad performances from Niemi saw him take over as principal goalkeeper at Fulham. However, the day before the Premier League match against Derby County in October, Keller injured his arm in training and was on the sidelines until late January. However, he returned as a substitute keeper in the 2–1 win over Aston Villa on 3 February. From then on he was only second choice until Fulham's match against Blackburn where he started the game, with Niemi on the bench. He also started the following game against Everton and is now considered first choice.

[edit] International career

Keller got his first senior team cap against Colombia on February 4, 1990 and played in the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

After being ignored by U.S. coach Bora Milutinovic for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he made Steve Sampson's ill-fated squad in 1998, and played two games at the World Cup. Keller was an overage selection for the 1996 Olympics team, starting all three matches.

Kasey was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1997 and 1999, and again in 2005.

Perhaps his most famous clean sheet came in the historic 1998 win versus Brazil. Keller played all 90 minutes in goal and made ten saves, many from point blank range, in preserving the 1–0 shutout victory for the U.S. His performance in goal prompted Brazilian great Romario to remark “That is the best performance by a goalkeeper I have ever seen.”^[4] Additionally, it was the subject of the song "Kasey Keller" by synth-pop band Barcelona.

Keller was second choice to Brad Friedel in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He has earned 100 caps for the U.S. and is the team's all-time leader in wins and keeping clean sheets (shutouts).

Keller crowned the U.S.'s run in the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament with a clean sheet in the final match against Panama and two saves in the penalty shootout to give the side the trophy. Keller started the first seven games of the final round of World Cup qualifying in 2005, recording five consecutive clean sheets and 507 consecutive goalless minutes to lead the U.S. to qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany. He then became the first male player in U.S. history to win his third Athlete of the Year award. On May 2, 2006 Keller and teammate Claudio Reyna became the first two Americans named to four World Cup Rosters. In that World Cup, he played in all three games, being named Man of the Match in the 1–1 draw with Italy in Kaiserslautern on June 17, 2006. Keller is the only U.S. player to participate in both the 1990 and 2006 World Cups.

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• A street near his old high school, North Thurston High School, in his hometown of Lacey, Washington is named after him.
• The band Barcelona has a tribute song to Keller on their 2000 album Zero One Infinity.
• Keller has written a guest editorial for Time magazine about AC Milan and Brazilian international midfielder Kaká.^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Kasey Keller career stats at Soccerbase
• Official U.S. Soccer Federation bio
• Kasey Keller articles on Yanks Abroad
• Kasey Keller's U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Kasey Keller Millwall stats

Preceded by Eric Wynalda	U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year 1997	Succeeded by Cobi Jones
Preceded by Cobi Jones	U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year 1999	Succeeded by Chris Armas
Preceded by Landon Donovan	U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year 2005	Succeeded by Oguchi Onyewu

Honda Player of the Year v • d • e
1991 Hugo Perez | 1992 Eric Wynalda | 1993 Thomas Dooley | 1994 Marcelo Balboa | 1995 Alexi Lalas | 1996 Eric Wynalda | 1997 Eddie Pope | 1998 Cobi Jones | 1999 Kasey Keller | 2000 Claudio Reyna | 2001 Earnie Stewart | 2002 Landon Donovan | 2003 Landon Donovan | 2004 Landon Donovan | 2005 Kasey Keller | 2006 Clint Dempsey | 2007 Landon Donovan

v • d • e United States squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Meola • 2 Trittschuh • 3 Doyle • 4 Banks • 5 Windischmann • 6 Harkes • 7 Ramos • 8 Bliss • 9 Sullivan • 10 Vermes • 11 Wynalda • 12 Krumpe • 13 Eichmann • 14 Stollmeyer • 15 Armstrong • 16 Murray • 17 Balboa • 18 Keller • 19 Henderson • 20 Caligiuri • 21 Covone • 22 Vanole • Coach: Gansler

v • d • e United States squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Friedel • 2 Hejduk • 3 Pope • 4 Burns • 5 Dooley • 6 Regis • 7 Wegerle • 8 Stewart • 9 Moore • 10 Ramos • 11 Wynalda • 12 Agoos • 13 Jones • 14 Preki • 15 Deering • 16 Sommer • 17 Balboa • 18 Keller • 19 Maisonneuve • 20 McBride • 21 Reyna • 22 Lalas • Coach: Sampson

v • d • e United States squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Friedel • 2 Hejduk • 3 Berhalter • 4 Mastroeni • 5 O'Brien • 6 Regis • 7 Lewis • 8 Stewart • 9 Moore • 10 Reyna • 11 Mathis • 12 Agoos • 13 Jones • 14 Cherundolo • 15 Wolff • 16 Llamosa • 17 Beasley • 18 Keller • 19 Meola • 20 McBride • 21 Donovan • 22 Sanneh • 23 Pope • Coach: Arena

v • d • e United States squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Howard • 2 Albright • 3 Bocanegra • 4 Mastroeni • 5 O'Brien • 6 Cherundolo • 7 Lewis • 8 Dempsey • 9 Johnson • 10 Reyna • 11 Ching • 12 Berhalter • 13 Conrad • 14 Olsen • 15 Convey • 16 Wolff • 17 Beasley • 18 Keller • 19 Hahnemann • 20 McBride • 21 Donovan • 22 Onyewu • 23 Pope • Coach: Arena

v • d • e United States squad - Copa América 2007 1 Wynne • 2 DeMerit • 3 Boswell • 4 Feilhaber • 5 Pearce • 6 Califf • 7 Gomez • 8 Johnson • 9 Davies • 10 Gaven • 11 Conrad • 12 Bornstein • 13 Olsen • 14 Moor • 15 Kljestan • 16 Beckerman • 17 Keller • 18 Clark • 19 Twellman • 20 Mapp • 21 Guzan • 22 Nguyen • Coach: Bradley

v • d • e Fulham F.C. – current squad 1 Keller • 2 Volz • 4 Konchesky • 6 Stefanović • 7 Seol • 8 Smertin • 9 Healy • 11 Kamara • 13 Batista • 14 Johnson • 15 Nevland • 18 Hughes • 21 Bullard • 22 Omozusi • 23 Dempsey • 24 Bouazza • 25 Davies • 26 Andreasen • 27 Murphy • 28 Milsom • 29 Niemi • 30 Brown • 31 Watts • 32 Hangeland • 33 Kallio • 34 Baird • 37 Leijer • 38 Ashton • –– Andranik • –– Cook • –– Davis • –– Gera • –– John • –– Schwarzer • –– Stockdale • –– Zakuani • Manager: Hodgson

Persondata
NAME	Keller, Kasey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Professional soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH	November 29, 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH	Olympia, Washington
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH