Pretty well done 2002 highlight video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BX3RqJHrALw&search=USa%20world%20cup%202002

Goals vs. Portugal:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=21CuiSWJ4iY&search=portugal%20world%20cup%202002%20

Anyone have any more videos?

[This message has been edited by AggieG15 (edited 6/8/2006 12:52p).]

[This message has been edited by AggieG15 (edited 6/8/2006 12:52p).]

I really like the first one...ok..I really like the second one too!

I've always said Friedel is our best keeper, even now, but I had almost forgotten how superhuman he was at times in 2002.

I still don't understand why he retired from international play. His play in 2002 was absolutely incredible. I hope Keller will play just as well.

Lets get the party started! great vids. if i wasnt anxious enough, that first video made me more so.

I went home at lunch where I am taping the 2002 WC game against Portugual..Agoos should did score a beautiful goal...AGAINST Friedel! Grrr!!! hehehehe. Friedel was wonderful!

yeah i am really dreading watching keller in this tourney. it would be so nice to have friedel back. Keller is decent at best, with moments of greatness. I really have never liked him much in goal though. Maybe, just maybe, he will surprise me. Those movies really make me wanna add brian mcbride to my fantasy team. Who would you choose between mcbride and donovan?

^^^^^^

wow, what have you ever seen him do wrong?

Keller is a great keep. To argue otherwise is mind-boggling. He's just as good as Friedel, if not better. Even Arena said at the last WC, that he could've put Keller in with no worries about a dropoff, but he didn't want to sit the hot hand.

its not a matter of what he does wrong, but rather the fact that he doesnt do anything extraordinarily right. He is a decent goalie. 4-1 vs Germany is a good example of a test by an actual good team in which he did not perform. Really who has tested him in the last year? I really dont count games vs latvia, morocco (not his fault really), or teams like jamaica since they didn't qualify. I really think the perception of him goes right along with the number 5 ranking the US currently holds. I dont think either are accurate at all

no one thinks that our ranking is accurate, most in the world would agree though that keller is a world class keeper and one of the best out there

Alright, there's no way to make this post without pissing off most of you, but I'll try.

Keller is an excellent keeper by any standard. This is his World Cup and he has earned it. He is one of the best players in the history of soccer in this country. There is nobody I would rather have back there for the United States in 2006. All that said, he is a notch below the truly elite keepers of the world, in my opinion.

The good news is that he is better now than he has ever been. His reactions have always been second-to-none. His situational awareness is more keen now than ever.

But for those who ask what he has ever done wrong, he does have some weaknesses: earlier in his career, he sometimes refused to come off his line in situations where he could have prevented a shot on goal. He instead preferred to rely on his superior reactions, which in some cases just weren't enough to save a goal. As he has matured, I rarely see that hesitation any more, but against a quick opponent, it might still be apparent. Another thing I used to dislike about Keller was that he didn't always control his emotions. He is very intense, which I think is a good quality, but he would get angry and yell at other players when things did not go right. This was a problem even leading up to the 2002 World Cup. Of course, a keeper should communicate and shout instructions to organize his defense, and that is what Keller does now. The difference is that now he seems to always constructive when he's yelling at other players, rather than venting, which he used to do sometimes.

My 2 cents from someone who's watched every televised USMNT match since 1997 as well as a few live ones.

good analysis

pretty good assessment, tool. I agree that he is the best that we currently have, but I just dread the thought of italy and czech both putting up 4+ goals on us, which i think is totally possible. i still think he is nowhere near "one of the best keepers in the world"

You can thank Berhalter and Conrad for the 4 goals against Germany. No goalkeeper in the world can stop a header from a completely unmarked man 10 yards from goal. It's even more impossible when Michael Ballack is the one doing the heading.

Your beef with Keller seems to reside with the result from the Germany game when our back 4 played like a bunch of 4th graders. I don't think any of those goals were his fault.

my beef with keller is not from the germany game. I have never liked him for some reason. I watched him a lot when i was younger, and just never liked him. And if a team scores four goals on you, at least one of them is the goalies fault. There is no way that four goals can be blamed on only the defense. If he was one of the best goalies in the world, he wouldnt let 4 goals in no matter what. Show me a game in which kahn or petr cech let in 4 goals whether the defense played well or not?

Now, Conrad. That's the one guy who just isn't good enough to be on this squad. I don't care how awesome he is in MLS; this is a completely different game. I won't fault Bruce for Berhalter, since he was originally an alternate, but I'll be upset if I see Conrad out there during the tournament unless there are more defensive injuries.

I don't hold the Germany match against any player. I have erased its memory from my mind, as it was a throwaway lineup in a throwaway situation. It means nothing.

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Show me a game in which kahn or petr cech let in 4 goals whether the defense played well or not?

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How about Peter Cech letting in 3 against Middlesbrough (and that team, despite their UEFA cup run sucks.)? Or letting in 3 against Finland in qualifying (i.e. a team that sucks in a game that mattered rather than a team that was decent in a game that didn't)?

As for Khan, he let in 3 against Brazil, Mexico, and Australia (!) in the Confederations Cup last summer...and all of those games were freaking home games.

Yeah, I know it's not 4 but I'm going to say that that giving up 4 to a good team in their home stadium is the equivalent of giving up 3 to some questionable teams in your own stadium.

In other words, even great goalies give up for 3 or 4 goals on occasion. It happens.

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"The rest of the world will be rooting for the U.S. to fall flat on its face. Tell your soccer-hating friends that if they couldn't care less about how the U.S. does in these games, they are right in line with the French."

Page 2 writer Michael Davies

keller also let four in last time we played italy

Getting up for it by goosestepping around the house, saying "sig heil", calling my friends "monkey" and watching ice cream melt. German beer on ice, I'm ready.

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keller also let four in last time we played italy

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Unless I'm missing something from US Soccer, the last time we played Italy was in 2002 and we lost 1-0. I can't even tell if Keller played though. Where are you getting 4 from and when was it?

wow...there are alot of stupid comments on this thread...he has been fantastic for Borussia Mönchengladbach and has kept a really bad team up in the top flight. Im assuming none of yall actually watched any of the qualifying stages where he made fantastic save after fantastic save.

by the way tool's assesment of keller sounds alot like the same view that alot of folks have about oliver kahn...but he is often lauded as the best goalkeeper in the world...probably because he doesnt have a defense full of jack asses. The morrocco game is a prime example, it looked like keller was slow coming off the line to make that save but how was he supposed to know dolo was just gonna pass it straight to the on comming forward...you cant game plan for stupidity...you give him germany's defense and he will look like oliver kahn

Dolo's mistake was so bad that if Keller had simply walked away from the goal he would still not be responsible in any way for the Morocco score.


EDIT: In any case, that's not the kind of situation I am talking about. In the Morocco situation, the opposing player had the ball at his feet WAY out from goal. In a situation like that, the keeper can't do much--if he comes out, it's an easy chip over his head and if he holds his ground it's basically penalty-kick odds on whether the opposing player scores. Either way, keeper is pretty much screwed.

[This message has been edited by tool (edited 6/8/2006 8:17p).]

Not sure if I've seen every USMNT match since 1997. I am sure that I've seen 95% of them since 1985 though.

I just don't understand the distaste of Keller. This was also on another thread. I guess with upcoming WC, we have some peripheral fans who are uninformed.

But, I will tell you one thing that Keller does extraordinarily well. It's his ball-handling. His goal kicks, hand passes, and clears are fantastic. It sounds trivial, but it's a legitimate weapon. Just watching the last 5-6 prep games, you could see the difference between him and opponents' goalies.

He is excellent at all of that stuff, and it is most definitely not trivial. Still, nobody ever hires or fires a keeper based on how he gets rid of the ball.

ill contest that...edwin van der sar is an excellent keeper but one of the reason he was brought to man united was his superior distribution of the ball...the other was his large build reminded people of shmiechel...

You can argue that his distribution prowess isnt the only reason he plays but its a significant contribution that keeps him in the line up even if he is struggling...

The same can be said about paul robinson...he is excellent at the low drive punt that is favorable for strikers who use speed to beat the defense (see rooney/owen at the international level and defoe/lennon at the club level). The low drive keeps the backs from making up ground.

[This message has been edited by AG@RICE (edited 6/8/2006 8:41p).]

I'd say those are exceptions that prove the rule. Elite clubs that have their choice of the very best goalkeepers with similar shot-stopping capability may use ball distribution as a tie breaker. But those keepers wouldn't even be considered if they weren't already amongst the best in the world at keeping the ball out of the net. Thus ball distribution is still less important than other skills.

i argue that its the distribution that sets them ahead of every other goal keeper...(we maybe arguing the same point)

Regardless its still the reason they got hired over other great shot stoppers, and that was your original statement

"exception that proves the rule"? As a scientist this statement offends me, but other than that tool you've come up with no legitimate reason for the Keller hate. I'm pretty sure most of your arguments have been addressed. Why do some people not realize how big KK has been for the team throughout qualifying? You may have watched all of those games but how many Munchengladbach games have you watched? There are now two US based TV stations that broadcast bundesliga games so you should've been able to listen to the English announcers every game talk about how if KK would talk to other teams he would be snatched up by a big club immediately and I'm pretty sure those guys have watched more soccer and more KK than all of us combined.

I never said I hate Keller. my_december is the one who seems to have a problem with him.

I do think that those who say he is in the top 1 or 2 keepers in the world are off their rocker.

AG@RICE, I think we're saying the same thing at this point.

I think there is a group of 4-5 that are world class and keller follows closely behind that.

If you ever want to see the single BEST game by a keeper ever, watch the 1998 USA vs Brasil game...won 1-0 by USA.

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One of the greatest moments of his career came after a 1-0 win over Brazil in 1998 when legendary striker Romario – stumped time and again by the American keeper – remarked: “That is the best performance by a goalkeeper I have ever seen in a match that I have played in.”

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U.S. soccer aficionados still talk about Keller's play in a 1998 1-0 victory vs. defending World Cup champion Brazil in the Gold Cup — the USA's only win in 12 matches against Brazil and a performance that Brazilian star Romario termed the greatest he had ever seen by a goalkeeper.

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