Mad Brit Diary

Keller's key to Spurs' recent run of good results.

(Friday, October 31, 2003) -- We exaggerate, of course, but American goalkeeper Kasey Keller is one of the key components in Tottenham Hotspur's recent run of good results.

You've got to plug the Yanks when they're doing well, and Keller is hot right now. He's been the Mad Brit's favorite goalie ever since we had a nice chat in the dressing room at Millwall many years ago after a game against Cambridge. Keller ran off to the club bar like all the other Mad Brit players desperate for a beer and a chaser, probably because he had just won a bottle of that French fizzy stuff.

Boy, what a pit The Den was back then. The bathrooms were below third-world standards. The MB remembers a nice-middle class couple complaining to a game steward, saying they wouldn't come back to The Den again because of the state of the loos. Later, the nanny-state Brits finally woke up to the concept that the "customer comes first" and Maggie swung her handbag and started building some decent stadiums. But there in the Millwall locker room, Keller was calm, focused, polite and slightly nutty -- you had to be to play for Millwall back then -- until the mop lady told us to get out.

Keller, who is 34 this month, still had some hair in those days. Millwall was a good education for the young American from Portland, Ore. He saw the best and worst of the English game in that seedy side of London. You can knock the United States for it's lack of star strikers and ignorance of soccer (forget being served a decent cup of tea), but don't ever knock the Yanks over their keepers. Americans know a thing or two about using their hands. It's all that hand-to-eye coordination learned from playing basketball and that nutty American Football.

So Keller is back in excellent form at Spurs, pulling off some big saves and keeping the once glamorous London club clear of the relegation zone for the time being. The post-Hoddle days seem to be good for Kasey. Spurs are unbeaten in their last six games, including four Premier League outings and in that time, the 6-foot-1 Keller has recorded four clean sheets. Kasey is clearly having a run of good luck while fellow Yank Brad Friedel struggles at Blackburn Rovers.

Kasey pulled off a super game on Wednesday in the 1-0 win over West Ham United in the League Cup. Keller has the clever knack of closing down an opponent's shooting angle. Just watch him, he puts his body on the line countless times. That's more than you can say for Keller's taste in music. He's from Seattle, the home of the overrated "grunge sound," so what do you expect?

Keller is a big fan of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Audio Slave, Marilyn Mason, Murder Dolls and the Foo Fighters (that's a little better, Kasey). Meanwhile the MB has to suffer the endless hours of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the favorite band of his kids. Oh, for the sweet sound of David Gray and Travis. But the MB digresses.

We are here to talk about soccer. Last season at Tottenham Hotspur, Keller played every minute of every match, displacing Neil Sullivan as the club's No. 1. Then he had surgery on both elbows. Leading up to the 2002 World Cup, he made eight starts for the United States in qualifying and registered five shutouts before losing the job at the World Cup to Friedel.

Keller's been around. After Millwall, he went to Leicester City, then joined Madrid club, Rayo Vallecano, before returning back to Brit land and Spurs in 2001. He's always been a popular lad and always was supported by the Mad Brit when U.S. coach, the very mad but nice, Bora Milutinovic left him off the 1994 World Cup team. Keller's recent success can also be contributed to his excellent training at Spurs, where he works under goalkeeper coach Pat Jennings .

The former Arsenal, Tottenham and Northern Ireland goalie was brilliant in his time and is passing on his vast experience to the American. Keller's contract with Tottenham ends in two years. Who knows, Kasey may then return to the United States and join Major League Soccer as a player or a coach. Keller has always said he wants to finish out his playing career in the USA. He's already been 13 years playing overseas. He's made some good money in that time -- he earns $1 million a year with Spurs -- enough to keep his twins and wife happy. He's also picked up some valuable experience which he can one day disperse to his American brethren.

Keller , who has 67 caps under his belt and holds the U.S. record for career shutouts with 33, will be 36 when the next World Cup rolls around and Manchester United's Tim Howard will be fighting for the U.S. starting spot. But don't count Kasey out just yet.

Manchester United gave American prodigy Danny Szetela a tryout last week. The 16-year-old midfielder from Trenton. N.J., a veteran of the U.S. under-17 men, would qualify for a work permit because his parents are Polish.

Can't we all just get along? Obviously not. Turkish defender Alpay Ozalan got his marching orders from Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis last week. Alpay had the nerve to poke his finger up the nose of David Beckham in England's ill-tempered Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey last month. Subsequently, Alpay 's contract with the Midland club was ended by mutual consent. Villa lost about $11 million on Alpay if the transfer fee and salary are included. Ellis said he had to get rid of Alpay because he would be an object of fan abuse. Oh well.

Jason Tingle writes: "Hey Mad Brit, just thought it was very ironic that people and the press vilified Alpay and hung him in effigy over a ridiculous and puerile incident with David Beckham. Didn't the press do a job on Becks back in '98? Funny how fickle the fans and press can be when you can go from the most hated man in football to an untouchable. Becks is great and I don't want anyone mucking around with him but, at the end of the day, it's still just a game (although I'm sure you Brits would argue that it's much more important than that).

"That being said, any idea why Turkey can get away with that kind of behavior when England would almost surely have been given some sort of punishment by (Europe governing body) UEFA? It's my understanding that (England's Football Association) and UEFA could be of out to make an example out of Rio Ferdinand for his missed drug test. Maybe they should start with the behavior on the field irst.

ECFcrob writes: "What a load of trash that article (about English hooligans) was. . . We aren't all like that. Every country has thugs, but here we don't use guns or do drive-by shootings like you do. Don't class all English as thugs. We are the most passionate fans in the world and I hate hooligans. I can't stand them, but your article is wrong . So I suggest you get your facts right. . . . I've seen riots at some of your basketball games. I'm a true footie fan who supports his team and his country, too. I hate the thugs and I have never read a piece of crap like you wrote." (Note: the MB and ECHcrob have further exchanged emails and are now the best of friends.)

Michael Fallone writes: "Mad Brit, why is Jovan Kirovski not getting any first-team playing time at Birmingham City? If this continues, is there any chance that Kirovski will move on to Division One or possibly another league in Europe? It just seems a waste for such a talented player to be playing in the reserves all the time."

Heard a rumor, have a gripe or a tip? Feeling lonely? E-mail the Mad Brit at themadbrit3@aol.com.