Keller’s Star Dims Overseas
Had it gone better for Kasey Keller, he might have helped create a little bit of American soccer history today at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
That’s where the English League Cup final will be played between Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur.
Starting in the nets for Blackburn will be former UCLA and current U.S. national team goalkeeper Brad Friedel. Watching from the bench for Tottenham, in all likelihood, will be Keller, Friedel’s rival for the U.S. starting spot in the World Cup this summer.
The symmetry--not to mention oddity--of having America’s best two goalkeepers at opposite ends of the field in an English cup final will not have been overlooked by Glenn Hoddle, the former England national team coach now in charge of Tottenham.
But Hoddle has yet to show the sort of faith in Keller that Rover Coach Graeme Souness has long shown in Friedel, first at Galatasaray in Turkey and now at Blackburn.
Since moving to Spurs from Rayo Vallecano in Spain last summer, Keller has been unable to dislodge Scotland’s Neil Sullivan and take over as Tottenham’s No. 1 goalie. He has started a few games but hasn’t made the position his own.
And he can’t understand why.
“I’m 32 years old and I’m not ready to be a No. 2 [keeper],” Keller told Reuters before the U.S. team’s 1-0 loss to Italy earlier this month.
“I’m not an unknown quantity and I just want an explanation on why I’m not playing.”
Depending on how you look at it, being a backup at Spurs is or is not helping Keller’s World Cup chances.
On the one hand, while Keller is on the bench, Friedel is playing week in and week out against top-flight strikers in the English Premier League. That will give him a huge edge in game sharpness by the time Korea/Japan ’02 rolls around in May.
On the other hand, being indispensable to Blackburn means that Friedel, 30, is not free to join the U.S. whenever the national team has games. As a result, Keller gets the call.
In the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup, won by the American team, Keller had four shutouts in five games, giving up only one goal. In addition, he saved one penalty kick against South Korea and two against Canada.
Bruce Arena, the U.S. coach, is correct when he says there is virtually nothing to choose between the keepers in terms of ability. Both are exceptional.
Friedel has more national team experience, with 73 games for the U.S. compared to Keller’s 55. That’s mostly because Friedel was more readily available, whereas Keller, from Lacey, Wash., has been playing in Europe since leaving the University of Portland in 1990.
Keller was No. 2 behind Tony Meola at the Italia ’90 World Cup and was the starter, ahead of Friedel, at the France ’98 World Cup. Friedel was Meola’s backup at the USA ’94 World Cup.
Who will start this summer still is very much up in the air. Keller has been called in for the U.S. team’s next two matches, against Honduras on Saturday in Seattle (1 p.m., ESPN) and against Ecuador on March 10 in Birmingham, Ala. Tim Howard of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars will be Keller’s backup.
Apart from Keller, the only other European-based players selected by Arena were defender Gregg Berhalter and winger Eddie Lewis.
Brandi on the Rocks
When the U.S. women’s national team leaves for Portugal this week to take part in the ninth annual Algarve Cup, it will do so without two-time world champions and Olympic gold and silver medalists Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm.
The 33-year-old Chastain, who led the San Jose CyberRays to the first Women’s United Soccer Assn. championship last year, injured her left knee while playing in a WUSA World Stars match in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Feb. 10 and has undergone surgery.
She will be sidelined for up to a month, but should be available to the U.S. team by the time it plays Finland on April 27 at San Jose’s Spartan Stadium.
That game, scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN2, is part of a doubleheader that also will feature the CyberRays against the Carolina Courage at 4:30 p.m.
Also missing the Portugal trip, and scheduled for left knee surgery is Hamm, the world’s all-time leading goal scorer, who plays for the Washington Freedom. She will be out at least eight weeks.
The U.S. will open Algarve Cup play Friday against Sweden, then plays England on March 3 and Olympic champion Norway on March 5.
In six appearances in the tournament, the U.S. has won it only once--in 2000, when it defeated Norway, 1-0, in the final on a penalty kick by Chastain.
Mexico Encounters
Far more impressive than World Cup-bound Mexico’s 2-1 loss to Yugoslavia in Phoenix was the fact that 42,300 fans showed up for the game at Bank One Ballpark on Feb. 11.
Mexico continues to draw as many or more fans in the U.S. as the U.S. team itself. That’s one reason the Anschutz Entertainment Group has acquired the marketing rights to the Mexican national team for all its games in this country through 2006.
First up under the AEG banner will be a Mexico-Bulgaria game in San Diego on March 13.
After that, according to Soccer America magazine’s Ridge Mahoney, will be a U.S.-Mexico game at Invesco Field in Denver on April 3.
Galaxy Update
The long-delayed groundbreaking ceremony for the Galaxy’s new 20,000-seat stadium, as well as the training complex for all U.S. national teams, will take place Tuesday morning on the campus of Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Taking part will be defender Alexi Lalas, who is unsigned, and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who has recently been linked in trade talk with the Dallas Burn....
Newly acquired Guatemalan striker Carlos Ruiz and American forward Chris Albright have started well with Los Angeles.
Albright scored three goals and Ruiz two as the Galaxy defeated Magallanes, 3-1, tied Colo Colo, 2-2, and shut out Universidad de Chile’s reserves, 2-0, in the first three games of the team’s current trip to Chile.
