Kasey Keller lived in a castle
After dodging choppers at Millwall and winning the League Cup with Leicester, the keeper headed for Germany to live in a castle
How did your 1992 Millwall move happen?
In ’ 89 I won the Silver Ball at the FIFA World Youth Championship, and people took notice of me. Bruce Rioch had managed in Seattle, knew about American players and was ready to take a chance as Millwall’s boss. I went on a month’s trial, got past Christmas and New Year, then here’s how I began losing my hair! I waited six weeks to get a work permit and signed on Valentine’s Day. My permit would expire after one year, but then Bruce lost his job, Mick Mccarthy came in and I was really worried. Mick sat me down and said, “In all likelihood you’ll play – just keep doing what you’re doing because I want competition for places.” I ended up starting more than 200 games in four years.
What was it like playing West Ham?
I knew the history, but before those matches you couldn’t prepare for it. I remember all of the security: helicopters right overhead during the game and police horses behind the goals. West Ham won promotion in 1992- 93, but we beat them at home and drew away. I made a save at the end of the away game and ran into the joyful Millwall fans, thankful that we hadn’t been beaten at their stadium. When you’re a young footballer, those images stay with you forever.
You joined Leicester in 1996 – what was so good about Martin O’neill?
You often hear these tactical minds speaking about moving six inches here and there – give
me a break. It’s simply about putting guys in positions that best complement their ability, and the rest they usually figure out on the fly. That’s exactly what he did, and it worked. We were expected to be relegated by Christmas, but in the first season we came 9th and won the League Cup. Then we finished 10th, 10th again and reached another cup final.
In 1998, you played in that match against Newcastle when Alan Shearer kicked Neil Lennon in the head and didn’t get sent off. What on Earth did you think?
I like Alan – he’s one of the best footballers the Premier League has ever produced – but he got away with that one. It was all politics – MPS attempted to shut it down because the World Cup was a few weeks away. Everyone stuck up for Shearer and not for Lennon, who got kicked in the head! But it united us even more, and helped to solidify that ‘ us versus them’ mentality. We took it as another insult that fired us up on the field.
Robbie Savage: annoying or funny?
It depends… [ Smiles] I got on very well with Robbie, and if you had him on your side, you knew he’d do anything to win. At Leicester, we had strong personalities like Steve Walsh and Emile Heskey, and Robbie was definitely one of those. He was tenacious, fighting for every lost cause. When you play for perennial underdogs, you need players like him who’ll give you an extra edge. I totally understand why many people found him annoying, but for the same reason it worked for us.
You left Leicester in 1999 and joined Rayo Vallecano, where you battled for a place with former Spain and Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui. Was he a decent keeper?
Julen was a very good keeper, and one of few people to play for Barcelona and Real Madrid. The difficult part about our profession is that you can only select one keeper, so there was a little bit of tension between us at Rayo. The press were stirring things up because he was a bigger name than me in Spain, but I won the battle. Julen played when I was sidelined with a shoulder injury, but I finished my first year at the club strongly.
Why did you leave?
At one stage, we were ahead of Barcelona in the table and reached the quarter- finals of the UEFA Cup – I’m proud to have been part of probably the greatest Rayo team ever. Unfortunately, the league reduced the number of foreign players from five to three, and I also had a residency in England that was about to expire after spending two years aboard, so I decided to go back to the UK and join Tottenham.
How was your time under Glenn Hoddle at Spurs?
You can obviously call him an English football icon. Tottenham were in transition, while still pushing for European spots. I came to compete for the No. 1 jersey with Neil Sullivan, a great goalkeeper. I told them, “Look, I’m fine with competition. I just need your assurance that when I prove I’m better than him, I’ll get my chance.” It took some time, but I played 100 games in a row for Spurs, which was a big accomplishment.
Did you really live in a castle during a spell at Borussia Monchengladbach?
I did! It was built by the Franks and suffered fire damage in the 1800s, before going under the jurisdiction of the German preservation society. A guy bought it for his family, but he got divorced and wanted to rent it. I spoke to my wife and kids, and we decided to go for it. I felt it would be cool for Americans to live in a historic space for a while. It was a special time at Gladbach, because it prepared me for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
How did it feel to avoid relegation on the last day of the 2007- 08 season at Fulham?
When I was thinking about leaving Gladbach, I phoned my friend Brian Mcbride. We briefly talked about Antti Niemi, who’d had injuries at Fulham. At one point, Brian asked, “Would you like to come here? If so, I can tell the club you’re available.” I said, “Yeah, OK…” On the Monday morning, I spoke to Fulham. It was mad – I got an offer on the Tuesday, flew for a medical on the Wednesday and was in goal at Aston Villa on the Saturday! I snapped my shoulder soon after that, but came back and played the last 10 games in what ended up being one of the greatest escapes in Premier League history. Fulham then brought in Mark Schwarzer, who was slightly younger. There was a possibility of going back to Spurs, and Jurgen Klinsmann tried to take me to Bayern Munich, but with Seattle poised to join MLS, it was a chance to finish my career at home.
When you helped the USA beat Brazil 1- 0 in 1998, Romario called your performance the best he’d ever seen by a goalkeeper...
I teased Gladbach team- mate Giovane Elber about that for a long time after – and the US haven’t beaten Brazil since! It often happens as a keeper that you have a great game but your team loses. This was special as we won.
Why has the US always had good keepers?
You can’t really explain it logically. The best reason would be that in America we grow up playing sports using our hands, but I wouldn’t go that far. Sometimes you have a situation where there are two decent goalkeepers, like me and Brad Friedel, competing with each other and pushing each other. Then people think, ‘ Maybe there are more’, so they bring over Marcus Hahnemann, Tim Howard and then Brad Guzan. At one point we had four starting American keepers in the Premier League. Was that sustainable? No. There were also three Finnish keepers back then, but there are zero now – it’s a generational thing.