Photo: Nicolae Stoian

PSP got a chance to speak to Kasey Keller during the Castrol MLS Media Cup game that was part of the MLS All-Star festivities. The former USMNT goalie covers the Seattle Sounders and joins the ESPN studio for MLS matches. Keller is one of the most accomplished goalies in US history, and he talked to PSP about how young guys should decide whether to go to Europe, why goalies are allowed to play through rough patches when other players might get benched, and how ball technology can make a goalkeeper’s job even tougher than it already is. 

Philly Soccer Page: What has changed about MLS that makes bigger leagues think they can find an impact player in MLS?

Kasey Keller: I don’t know how much it has changed, except that I think there are more impact players in MLS because, for whatever reason, MLS can afford to give some of these guys better contracts so they don’t necessarily have to run straight to Europe to get paid.

But at the same time I think there’s a valuation of a MLS player – and Don Garber has said many times that MLS doesn’t want to be a selling league, so maybe they will overvalue someone to make sure other leagues cannot buy them – but I think the guys are able to go over and compete. And this is a healthy state so the league doesn’t necessarily have to sell everybody they get an offer for.

PSP: A few years ago, it seemed like there was the perception that guys coming out of MLS weren’t as tactically prepared as European teams would like them to be. They weren’t as well-coached as guys from, say, the German second division or the Spanish Segunda. Do you think that has changed over time?

KK: I think we are waiting for more players who come out of MLS to make an instant impact. And when that starts to happen a little bit more, you’ll have more chances being taken. I don’t need to name the history, but obviously Jozey struggled a little bit at first, Eddie Johnson struggled, Brek hasn’t gotten on the field much yet, so there is a history of that. Until guys are able to come straight out of MLS and come straight onto the field – we’ve seen Brian McBride do that, and Bocanegra was able to do that, so there have been players that come out of MLS and make a direct impact – but it has to be more consistent for teams – and if MLS wants to demand a 4, 5, or 6 million dollar transfer fee – to feel like they can pay that price.

And if you’re 24 or 25, with a price like that, you’re expected to play in the first team and expected to be very good.

PSP: In Philly there are some of the really young Americans, the 20 and 21-year olds like Amobi Okugo and [Jack] McInerney. Do you think it’s better for those guys to go over to Europe early and sit and get experience that way?

KK: I think it’s fully individualized. It completely depends on the individual. Because you have to understand that they’re going over there and they’re young. This is the age when kids in America are hanging out at a frat party in their off time. You’re not playing for a club’s amateur team for nobody so you can hopefully make the first team one season. So it’s a little bit different, it’s hard for the Americans’ mentality.

If I think of myself, if I had gone over instead of going to college, I can tell you right now I would not have had the career that I had. But at the same time, if you’re leaving college at 23, you’re expected to be a first team player at that time. You’re too old for them to put you in the amateur team and try to develop you. So it’s kind of a catch-22 situation for a lot of these American guys.

PSP: Can you explain why goalies are allowed to work through their issues on the field while a player in a different position might be benched or brought off the bench for a few games when they struggle?

KK: I think there is an idea that you’re looking for stability in the back. And I think it’s going to be really hard to work that out in practice.

You also have to look at a lot of clubs and where they choose to put their finances. Do they have money invested in the guy behind you on the bench, or did they put that money into a second striker that can come off the bench and maybe score them a goal. Very rarey, I think, do you have clubs where two goalkeepers are equally as good. And I think they understand this guy’s better and he’s just having a bit of a rough time right now and he’ll work his way out of it.

PSP: I’ve heard Alexi Lalas say a few times, “If you can punch a ball, you can catch a ball,” but he wasn’t a goalie. Do you agree with that?

KK: I think there’s a bit more emphasis on punching now than there has been in the past. Some of it is the ball technology, where it’s swerving all over the place and it’s difficult to catch. At the same time, there are a lot of balls I see nowadays that are punched and I scratch my head and say, ‘Why did you not just catch that?’ But to Alexi’s point, that’s like saying to a wide receiver, ‘If the ball can touch your fingertips, you should catch it.’ It’s a gray area. There’s not specific black and white. But the last thing you want to do is come up for a ball, drop it, and have a simple tap in where you could have punched it 40 yards out of the danger zone. It’s all about, ‘Catch this, because it’s easily caught.’ And punch this because if you drop it you’re in major trouble.

PSP: You mentioned ball technology: How much has it changed over the last few years?

KK: It’s ridiculous. It’s the only sport in the world where there is not a consistency in a ball. Imagine if you went to every tennis tournament and the ball did totally different things from one tournament to the next. What if every NFL team had a different ball and one of them you can throw one way and one goes another way. It can be extremely frustrating.

PSP: Can you tell me about how changes in tactics might affect a goalie? Does it matter how your team is set up in front of you?

KK: Not at all. In goal, a shot is a shot. A cross is a cross. It doesn’t matter what the formation is. You’re just trying to read each individual play as it comes and make a split-second decision about what is best for your team at that time. As a goalkeeper, you can only do what’s possible. We are purely reactive to what happens.

PSP: People have strong opinions about announcers. Do you want to involve the most people possible, or do you want to go into more detail?

KK: My goal as an announcer is to try and help the fan watch the game. I’m not trying to compete with the game. My producer puts something on my screen that says, “How” and “Why.” And that’s what I’m trying to explain. Nothing more, nothing less. If there’s nothing to talk about, there’s nothing to talk about. You’re tuned in to watch the game, not to listen to me. That’s the way I approach it.

PSP: Do you go into a game with things in mind that you want to clue the viewer in to? Things you want them to follow?

KK: I think it’s different when you have a studio set, you have a little more preview of what you’re trying to do. You can say, “I think these are a couple key players, I think this is a way this team could find this weakness or how they need to clean up this side of their game.

But when you’re doing the broadcast analyst, you’re basically just talking about what’s happening in the game right there. OK, ‘This is great because of this,’ ‘This was bad because of that.’ ‘This is how the goal came about because of this great 1-2 in the midfield, leads to a cross, defender slips…’ Something maybe you wouldn’t have seen the first time you were just watching it. I’m trying to give you a little bit more about why that was a great goal.