| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 6:32 pm |
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Sports 
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Bringing it all back home Goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who has spent the past 18 years starring in three of Europe's best soccer leagues, is returning to his roots to take up the mantle of elderstatesman on the expansion Seattle Sounders FC. Eighteen years ago, Kasey Keller left the Pacific Northwest to begin a pro soccer career that would take him to the heights of the international game.Keller returns today as the biggest name on the region's newest team, Seattle Sounders FC, which will make its Major League Soccer debut this spring. He expects to start in goal when the Sounders play their inaugural MLS game on March 19 against the New York Red Bulls at Qwest Field. "To have had the success I've had (in soccer) and now to be able to bring that back home, I'm extremely excited about the prospects," said the 39-year-old Keller, a 1988 graduate of Olympia's North Thurston High School. After playing collegiately at the University of Portland, Keller left for Europe to play at the highest level of soccer. He spent most of that time in England's renowned Premier League, although he has also played in Spain's La Liga and Germany's Bundesliga, two of the world's other top pro circuits. Along the way he made four World Cup appearances for the United States and captained the U.S. team at the 1996 Olympics. Over the years there were many chances for Keller to play in the United States. Any MLS team would have gladly taken him, of course, but he never could have made the kind of money available in Europe. Neither was there a team in his home state before this year, which is the real allure of playing for the Sounders this season. The transition also takes place at a time when Keller is preparing for life after soccer. Life after playing soccer, that is, because he wants to stay on in the game after he retires, which will probably be sometime in the next few years. "And I came to the conclusion," said Keller, who has a contract for this season and next, "that if I truly wanted a fluid transition from playing into either coaching or the (front) office, then I probably needed to come home and play first." So this is a terrific opportunity for Keller, but also for the Sounders, who have landed one of the top American-born soccer players of the past two decades. "This is great for Sounders FC, and it's also great for Kasey to be able to come home after all these years," said Adrian Hanauer, the team's general manager and a minority owner. "Any team would be thrilled have a guy with that kind of experience and the quality that he adds in the back both as a goalkeeper and as a leader." "He's played in the big leagues," added Chris Henderson, the Everett native who is the team's technical director. "If you're going through goalkeepers and you mention Kasey Keller, there aren't a lot of people who haven't heard of him. He's got to be one of the top goalies in the history of American soccer." Keller also gets to participate in a rebirth of pro soccer in Seattle. Older fans throughout the Northwest will remember the earlier Sounders, who played in the North American Soccer League. The NASL had periods of prosperity between 1968 and 1984, but grew too fast, too soon and ended up folding. MLS arrived in 1996, and since then the league has grown in measured phases. Seattle is the league's 15th franchise and a 16th in Philadelphia will join the league next year. "In America, were used to being the biggest and the best, but in soccer we're not," Keller said. "We're doing everything we can, and the sport has seen tremendous growth at all levels over the last 20 years, but we're still about 100 years behind a lot of other countries. "If you think about it, the NFL in the 1970s isn't what the NFL is now. I used to go to NBA games when I was kid, and that wasn't what it is now. So you can't think that you're going to start a league and (right away) you're going to compete with the NFL. You have to have that good, slow progression." Because the money remains much better in Europe, Keller said, many top American players will still be tempted to head across the Atlantic Ocean. "But I'm excited for the soccer players in 20 years time," Keller said. "Because by then I think there'll be a truly viable league (here), and (American) players will have to make some very difficult decisions about going to Europe or not going to Europe." Even in the years he was playing overseas, Keller and his wife Kristin returned to the Northwest in the offseason with their kids, twins Chloe and Cameron. The couple owned a home in Olympia and a vacation home in the mountains of Idaho. "We are," he said, "pretty entrenched in the Northwest." In recent months the family bought a residence on Mercer Island, and kids are in school there now. They are 11, Keller said, and it is already their fifth school in their fourth country. "We are making a huge commitment to kind of build our life here in Seattle," Keller said. "I've been in Europe 18 years, but we made the commitment to move here and get our kids started in school, and then to say, 'Hey, we want to be here and let you finish school here.' "So we've made a huge, huge commitment to come back to Seattle and to truly be here for a long time," he said. |
- A revolutionary 747
- Fire breaks out at Everett car dealer
- Everett rethinks boutique wineries
- A tidy lawn could be law in Lynnwood
- Snohomish County's bargain housing won't last
- Boeing's 747-8 takes off after weather delay
- Plan for I-5 closures this week
- A new bowling alley for Monroe?
- Lake Stevens man homeless after fire
- I-5 bridge joint may give you a jolt, but it isn't damaged
- Vote on school levies by Tuesday
(11) - A tidy lawn could be law in Lynnwood (10)
- Lynnwood sets height limit on grass: 8 inches (5)
- Everett police officers cleared in 2008 shooting death (5)
- 1949 travel aid shows how few places blacks were welcome in Washington (4)
- I-5 bridge joint may give you a jolt, but it isn't damaged (4)
- Everett rethinks boutique wineries (4)
- County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up (3)
- State Senate votes to toss I-960's tax-raising hurdle (3)
- Three politicians who want Gregoire's job in 2012 (3)
- Edmonds educator, famous announcer dies
- Mill Creek to appeal ruling on annexation
- Through the air, with the greatest of ease
- E-W thriving under new coach
- The path to citizenship
- EUUC puts on ‘Pants & Shoes’
- Wolfpack wins the ‘Battle'
- Lynnwood’s annexation plans OK’d
- Arlington's Cascade Valley Hospital celebrates expansion, national award and 100 years of service
- Business Licences Feb. 2010
- Technology tips for launching your own business
- Business Events Feb. 2010
- Tech Talk: No excuse today for going without a Web site
- State already raising fees and rates that restrict business growth
- Some legislators again targeting people’s initiative petition rights
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