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Seattle Sounders 2008 Seattle Soccer Show Player Ratings Current Table
Keller's Career
Signed by the England’s Millwall, Keller made his professional debut in the First Division on May 2, 1992. He started 51 consecutive matches in the 1992-93 season, registering 16 clean sheets and conceding only 53 goals. A fan favorite, Keller was voted team Player of the Year by the Millwall supporters.
After four years with Millwall, Keller was transferred to Leicester City of the English Premier League. In his first year with Leicester, Keller was central to the team’s success in the Premiership and winning the 1997 League Cup.
Keller spent three seasons with Leicester City before leaving to play two seasons for Rayo Vallecano of top Spanish league La Liga. He returned to the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, and played every minute for the Spurs in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.
On January 15, 2005, Keller joined German side Borussia Mönchengladbach where he played for two seasons before returning for a third stint in the Premier League, and once again with a London club, signing a one-year deal with Fulham.
“When I started my career in Europe, I always said that I wanted to finish playing back at home in the US,”
said Keller. “I wasn't sure that dream was ever going to come true. I
still can't believe it's a reality.”
Trilingual Keller Impresses Press Pack But Vows “I’m Here to Play”
An ambassador on and off the Pitch
August 14
Keller Handled Questions in
Spanish and German Comfortably
Photo: Joe Armand
Despite the importance of 18 years in Europe, 100 national caps and four world cups in Keller’s bio, Hanauer brought up the character of Keller as having impressed him. “There are several components that I think are even more important to why we're so excited and wanted to bring Kasey back to Seattle. One of them is character. You will hear us talk a lot about character of Sounders FC. It's the corner stone of what we're trying to build here. We want players of the highest moral character, ethical characters, that are going to work hard, be a great part of this community. And I have absolutely 100% confidence that Kasey will be an absolutely amazing ambassador for this franchise.” During the press conference Keller showed just quite what an asset he could be to the Sounders diplomatically by easily handling questions in three languages much to the amusement and entertainment of quite a few in the room.
His experience is easier to quantify statistically. He has played more than 600 matches for club and country. He has earned an American goalkeeper record of 102 international caps and 53 wins for USA, including 47 shutouts. In his only previous professional appearances in Seattle, Keller did not allow a goal in three international wins, including two at Qwest Field, the last being in the 2005 Gold Cup against Canada. He has appeared in four World Cups, captained the 1996 Olympics team, and was part of three CONCACAF Gold Cup championship runs. Keller was named MVP of the 1998 Gold Cup as the USA beat Brazil 1-0. He is the only player to be part of a national team at both the 1990 and 2006 World Cups.
At club level Keller played over 300 matches in three of the world’s top leagues: England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga. Keller himself put that in context, “There are basically four leagues in the world that every professional soccer player wants to play in. I've been fortunate enough to play in three of them. Now it's not to say that in twenty, thirty years the MLS, hopefully shorter, will become on par with those. But this is a league that's ten years old, twelve years old. You can't expect parity from a league. I've played for teams where the team started in 1885.”
Keller on his European Legacy
When he joined Millwall in 1992, Kasey Keller was something of a rarity. American players had rarely played in Europe and the USA was regarded as something of a soccer backwater there.
More often ageing European stars went in the opposite direction for one last pay day from the NASL in the 1970s and were rarely heard of again in Europe. Americans playing at the top level would have been a novelty. Kasey Keller changed all that. It is fair to say that he has done more for the reputation of the professionalism of the American footballer worldwide than any other player.
Now there are more than a few American players playing their trade in Europe especially goalkeepers. Kasey looked back with satisfaction on the trend he was mainly
responsible for:
"I’m just very happy that maybe through some of the ground breaking that I’ve been able to do opened the door for people like Tim Howard or Brad Guzan to be given that first opportunity in the Premier League. They’re not having to go into the First Division and work their way up. Last year, 1/5 of the staring keepers in the EPL were Americans.
To think that was going to happen 15 years ago, that was never going to happen but obviously through a little bit of work from myself through Brad Friedel, Marcus Hahnemann, American keepers now are perceived as “Hey let’s get them in the Premier League and they’re going to help us.”
“I’ve Come to Play”
Impressive as this bio is, Keller was at pains to stress that his eyes are on the future not the past. “I’m coming home to play. I’m coming home to help the Sounders win, to help the Sounders establish themselves as one of the top franchises in the country if not the benchmark for what soccer is going to become. So we know that we're a new league. We're a league that has improved tremendously in a short amount of time, but there's a long way to go. But we all want to be a part of it. And we want to see this league become the English Premier League, become La Liga in Spain. We have to patient.” He was sanguine about the longevity of his own playing future, saying “There’s goalkeepers who have won World Cups at 40.” But as everyone was keen to point out, there is no time limit on Keller’s contract and the player himself sees a role model for his future contribution.
A Seattle Beckenbauer?
Although the choice to return to his native Pacific Northwest may have been easy Keller was still much in demand at the top level. He explained that his services have been in great demand but in the end, the possibilities were too much to resist. “I had offers to continue playing in the Premier League and possibly going back to some of the other countries that I've been to. I had a lot of fun, and it's been a great journey. But the biggest part of a new franchise, and to be a part of everything that I feel that this team is going to stand for is just to good of an opportunity to pass up. And one that I hope to be a part of this franchise... I would love to be what (Franz) Beckenbauer has become to Bayern Munich for example. I would love to work my way up and to really be a part of Sounders FC for life.”
Looking back we asked Kasey about the highlights from a wonderful and varied career in Europe, a real glint both of pride and fondness, perhaps even nostalgia seemed to light up his face as he looked back briefly on a career in which he has given so much. “There have been so many highlights from so many different leagues, from those first games at Millwall. I don't know if many people know the history of Millwall Football Club. But Millwall is considered the founders of Hooliganism in Europe. So the stories I have from the pitch invasions, from having a huge cup game at Chelsea and saving the fifth penalty to beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. From Millwall to winning the league cup at Leicester City. I remember the last game before my first season in Spain before the Winter break, saving a penalty from (Luis) Figo in the 89th minute to draw 1-1 with Barcelona. The atmosphere in Germany, and being part of a team in the build-up in a country that's hosting the World Cup. So the highlights have just been tremendous and I'm very fortunate to having the support from my family, to drag them around a country and back again and to a different country and back to England again. That's why I'm very excited to get settled back home in the Northwest. But the highlights are endless.”
Best of Football Buddies
Keller went on to pay tribute to the changes that had taken place in US soccer since his youth. “Where soccer is today compared to where it was 25 years ago is like a different planet. This press conference would never have happened 25 years ago. I started with the national team in 1989 and was excited if there was a game somewhere that 10,000 people would attend and now we’re disappointed if we have a big game and there’s not 50,000 there. The joke we’ve had with Tod Leiweke is that one day the Seahawks will rent this stadium from the Sounders.”
A "Wall' of Friendly Faces
Surrounds Keller
Photo: Joe Armand
As a website that only covers soccer, we have to say that we wholeheartedly agree. The Hawks have made us all feel very welcome and Prost Amerika wants to pay them a quick tribute at this point. Thanks for making us feel so welcome in your house.
The conference then took an international turn when Keller answered questions in both Spanish and German. Given the emphasis put on the international outlook of the club at launch time, it is clear that Keller checks more boxes than it would be reasonably fair to expect from one individual. He sent a goodwill message for his fans in Mönchengladbach and spoke in German of the good times he had in Germany. Not all in the room understood everything but there was a smile as wide as the Atlantic Ocean on owner Hanauer’s face as Keller effortlessly fielded the foreign language questions. By the end of the day’s proceedings, he wasn’t the only one. Keller was introduced to 150 local school children on the Qwest pitch. Most of them weren’t born when Kasey joined Millwall. But I bet their support made leaving those hooligans behind just that bit easier for Keller!
Welcome home Bud!