Kasey Keller (born November 29, 1969 in Olympia, Washington) is an American football (soccer) goalkeeper, four time World Cup participant and one of the first American goalkeepers to become a starter in the English FA Premier League.
Keller played his college career at the University of Portland and got his first cap against Colombia on February 4, 1990. After being a member of the US National Team in the 1990 World Cup, he was signed by the English club Millwall, playing there and becoming a fan favorite between 1992 and 1996. Keller then went up to the Premiership, signing with just-promoted Leicester City and promptly led them to the League Cup in 1997. After being ignored by US coach Bora Milutinovic for the 1994 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. In 2000, Keller signed with the Spanish club Rayo Vallecano and played there for two years. He came 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. Keller was second choice to Brad Friedel in the 2002 World Cup. He has earned 91 caps for the US and is the team’s all-time leader in wins and keeping clean sheets (shutouts).
Perhaps his most famous shutout came in the historic 1998 win vs Brazil. Keller played all 90 minutes in goal and made many key saves in preserving the 1-0 shutout victory for the Americans. His performance in goal prompted Brazilian great Romario to remark “That is the best performance by a goalkeeper I have ever seen in a match.”
In the 2004-05 Premiership season, Keller fell out of favor at Tottenham as Paul Robinson became the starter. In November 2004, Kasey was loaned out to Southampton, a Premiership club ravaged by injuries to its goalkeeping corps, for one month.
On January 15, 2005, Keller joined German Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach 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 crowned the US’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 World Cup Finals in Germany. He then became the first male player in US 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.
Keller also lives in a castle, near Monchengladbach.
Regarding Keller’s quality of play in the U.S.’s first game in World Cup 2006, U.S. coach Bruce Arena noted “Kasey, for whatever reason, puts it upfield where we have nobody.”