After 28 regular season Major League Soccer matches, two international exhibitions and a run to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title, Seattle Sounders FC goalkeeper Kasey Keller still feels pretty good.
Kasey Keller's Career
Not bad for a 39-year-old. And it's making Keller more confident he has enough left to play beyond the initial two-year contract he signed with the Sounders that brought the Washington native back after more than a decade playing in the top leagues in Europe.
Having hinted that he would like to still be playing for the Sounders when expansion teams in Portland and Vancouver are expected to join the MLS in 2011, Keller said Tuesday he would be "surprised" if he still wasn't in goal when a heated Pacific Northwest rivalry is expected to begin.
"You never know what is around the corner, but I would feel a little bit surprised if I wasn't still playing that year," Keller said.
The most capped goalkeeper in U.S. national team history will wrap up his first MLS regular season on Saturday when Seattle hosts FC Dallas. Keller and the Sounders already have their playoff ticket punched, becoming just the second expansion team in league history to qualify for the postseason.
Keller has started all 28 MLS games he's played in, missing one because of a red card. His 0.92 goals against average and 10 shutouts are second in the league behind Zach Thornton from Chivas USA.
Keller first got a taste of what the rivalry with the other Northwest teams could be like during the third round of the U.S. Open Cup in July when Seattle beat Portland of the USL's First Division 2-1. The game played in Portland was greeted by a raucous sellout crowd.
