Americans Abroad

Keller is suddenly busy after loan to Southampton.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.)
SoccerTimes

(Monday, November 22, 2004) -- United States goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who saw virtually no action for Tottenham Hotspur during the first three months of the English Premier League, suddenly found himself busy.

Southampton (2-7-5, 9 points) obtained Keller from Spurs on an emergency loan for one month and possibly longer, and Keller started the last two Saturdays, sandwiched around an appearance for the U.S. men, who defeated Jamaica 2-0 Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

Keller, who had been a fixture in the Tottenham goal the previous three seasons, lost his job this year to Paul Robinson, the new starter for England. Meanwhile, Southampton, which sits in 17th place, had starter Antti Niemi coming off serious knee surgery and backup Paul Smith injured. After an embarrassing 5-2 Carling Cup loss to Watford of the second-tier English League Championship, Southampton called Spurs and obtained Keller.

"I'm very happy to be on loan to Southampton at the moment," Keller told SoccerTimes. "I'll get three or four games with them, see what happens in the January transfer window and make some decisions after that. I know that (Southampton's) got a very busy time around the holidays and I doubt they want to rush Niemi back into things too quickly, so I may be there longer. Whatever they need."

Keller arrived in Southampton the evening of November 11, checked into a hotel and came out the next morning to find he'd left his car lights, killing the battery. With only one day of practice with his new team, Keller had some communication problems with his new teammates, but was solid in a 2-1 victory over Portsmouth, the club's second league win and first since August.

The only goal Keller gave up was on a miscommunication. Portmouth's Dejan Stefanovic lifted a ball to the edge of the penalty area where Andreas Jakobsson did not hear Keller coming out and calling for it. The Southampton center back headed it back into his own net for a 1-0 deficit in the 12th minute.

After traveling to Columbus and picking up the shutout to close off the U.S.'s successful semifinal World Cup qualifying performance, Keller and Southampton fell 2-1 at Norwich Saturday.

Keller, 34, a native of Lacey, Wash., has been in talks with Major League Soccer about joining its new expansion team Real Salt Lake. Unless there is an injury to Robinson, Keller knows there is no chance he will play for Tottenham -- and even that might not get him playing time.

"There's been a lot of talk," Keller told SoccerTimes. "I have to think it (playing in MLS) is an option that I will explore more in the next couple of months. Mentally, I'm ready to come home, if that's the right move for myself and the family. It's just a matter of really figuring things out over the next three or four months to see what's right."

Keller's contract concludes at the end of the season in May. "Now it doesn't matter what I do. The decision has been made -- I'm not going to play at Tottenham," Keller said. "It doesn't matter if I'm great in training, great in a reserve game or great in a Cup game -- decisions have been made, I have to live with that. . . The frustration part came in August and September, when they (Tottenham) basically took me out."

Norwich came out firing and Keller made a fine save early on Phil Mulryne, then stopped a drive from Darren Huckerby. Four minutes after Southampton took the lead on a goal by James Beattie, Leon McKenzie got loose on a long run down the wing for Norwich. He centered to an unmarked Damien Francis who side-footed his shot past Keller to equalize at 1-1 in the 28th minute.

Norwich took the 2-1 lead in the 52nd minute after a low, hard shot from Francis was turned wide by Keller. On the ensuing Darren Bentley corner, Craig Fleming knocked the ball forward into the six-yard box to Francis. Without a Southampton player within three yards of him, Francis headed the ball home, leaving Keller thumping the ground in frustration.

A week after U.S. keeper Brad Friedel turned in a solid eight-save effort in Blackburn Rovers' 1-1 draw with Manchester United, conceding only a tap-in goal to Antoine Sibierski, he saw his defense revert to form in a 3-3 draw with visiting Birmingham City yesterday

The Blackburn defense was terrible in the first half, falling behind Birmingham 3-1 at intermission after taking a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute on Matt Jansen's tally. From that point, Rovers dominated with Friedel needing to make only one save. Steven Reid and Paul Gallagher scored early in the second half to allow Blackburn (1-6-7, 10) to pull even with West Bromwich (1-6-7) in last place.

Struggling Fulham had a miserable seven days, dropping a pair of matches. On Saturday, Fullham fell 1-0 at Everton on Duncan Ferguson's set-piece goal in the 67th minute. American Carlos Bocanegra played 90 minutes at left back, but contributed little. U.S. striker Brian McBride came off the Fulham bench in the 81st minute for Papa Bouba Diop and gave his team a bit of a lift, but to no avail.

On November 13, surging Chelsea, the league leader, outclassed Fulham 4-1. Bocanegra went the distance and McBride came in for Diop, this time in the 72nd minute, but could add little.

In a thrilling and odd November 10 Carling Cup match that saw four goals scored in overtime, Fulham defeated second-tier Nottingham Forest 4-2 with McBride scoring a key goal off the bench.

McBride came on in the 80th minute for midfielder Diop and helped give Fulham a lift which resulted in Tomasz Radzinski equalizing at 1-1 in the 86th minute, forcing extra time. Radzinski put Fulham ahead 2-1 in the 93rd minute and McBride made it 3-1 in the 103rd minute. He controlled the ball in the box, was knocked over as he turned, but had enough strength to sweep the ball into the net.

After Forest narrowed the margin to 3-2, Andy Cole secured the result for Fulham.

Bocanegra went the full 120 minutes at left back and played well.

On Saturday, U.S. keeper Tim Howard was on the bench for Manchester United which defeated Charlton Athletic 2-0. On November 14, he watched Man. U. defeat Newcastle United 3-1.

Howard did play in United's easy 2-0 fourth-round Carling Cup triumph over Crystal Palace when manager Alex Ferguson fielded a team with 10 usual reserves. Howard put in a solid effort making good saves on shots from Sandor Torghelle and Vassilis Lakis. The one time Howard was beaten, on a curving corner from Shaun Derry, United midfielder Quinton Fortune was on the line to head it clear.

Defender Jonathan Spector, who earned his first cap for the U.S. men in a reserve appearance Wednesday against Jamaica, entered for United in the 79th minute to help his club seal the result.

According to the British media, West Bromwich is seeking to obtain Spector on loan once the transfer window opens in January.

In an Arsenal reserve-team match, American midfielder Danny Karrbassiyoon had an up-and-down day in a 1-1 draw with Leicester City. In the 27th minute, he brought down Lee Morris from behind in the penalty area, but Morris missed his penalty kick. In the 62nd minute, Karrbassiyoon assisted on Arsenal's goal when his low cross from the left side found Anthony Stokes who drilled his shot home from an acute angle.