We would like to thank you for the outpouring of positive feedback for this project. It took a long time but know that it was a labour of love, so if you hate on them, too bad. You should see the printed version. You'd swear you bought them at a hobby store. They're shiny and pretty. Sure, I could've gone all holographics like Upper Deck, but I don't have that kind of dosh for what is really an elaborate joke.

Brad Friedel, amongst his peers, still going strong at 41 years old

A recent post by Jamie Trecker poses the question will the USA ever win the World Cup? And when will the USA ever produce its own Pele, if ever?

Trecker goes on to say that the USA has always produced top quality goalkeepers, the country's most visible export to overseas leagues in this sport.

In one of the biggest upsets in the history of the U.S. Men's National Team, the USA beat Brazil 1-0 on Feb. 11, 1998, in the semifinal of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. That game was the first U.S. win against the South American side, and today it remains the only time in 16 matches the U.S. has emerged victorious.

If you're a fan of the "wobble wobble" aka dubstep and American soccer you're going to love this new video by Jimmy Diebold playing with the lights at Century Link Field, the home stadium for Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders (and some silly NFL team, too).
Just splice some goal highlights, Kasey Keller saves, or some player running up-field making some ball moves to the music and you've got something even sexier.

Arlo White now has his boots in the booth for NBC Sports Networks, and his successor behind the microphone for Seattle Sounders FC has been revealed.

I'm sure Ross Fletcher will do a bang-up job, and I'm truly intrigued to observe how Kasey Keller makes the transition from player to TV analyst, especially considering he's in the starting blocks at one of Major League Soccer's more important and higher profile regional broadcast positions.

The hunt for Arlo White's replacement ends with Kasey Keller announced as the analyst and Ross Fletcher (formerly of BBC Sport) hired as the new voice of Seattle Sounders FC. Oddly enough Fletcher lived just minutes away from White in the East Midlands. The transition back to a two-man booth will be smoothed by the presence of a man that Fletcher simply calls a "hero.

Veteran MLS goalkeeper Jon Conway has decided to hang up his cleats and gloves.

Conway, 34, was selected by the Los Angeles Galaxy in this past December's re-entry draft to compete for a backup spot behind Josh Saunders, but he instead elected retire after a 12-year career.

After retiring at the end of the 2011 season, US National Team alum and Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller has a new role with the club. He will be joining play-by-play voice Ross Fletcher in the booth for Sounders television and radio broadcasts. "It's exciting for me to be involved with our broadcasts and stay involved with the club," Keller said.

By "The Other 87 Minutes" / Senior Unemployed English Major Correspondents
With Clarence...sorry, Clay Goodson appearing on House Hunters International late last year and Kyle Martino doing a stint this past Sunday on Cupcake Wars, soccer would seem to be having its moment in the sun.

Catching Up With Kasey Keller - Joshua Mayers

Curious what Kasey Keller has been up to this offseason? Well, Joshua Mayers let's us know. Sounds like Keller is definitely enjoying his first real offseason of his adult life.

Their Words "Elite football is about results and winning. There is no one better at it than him." FIFA president Sepp Blatter, while presenting Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson with the FIFA Presidential Award. Other Sources An American Loaner in Everton - from The Wall Street Journal's Gabriele Marcotti: It worked.

Last year was a good year for one of MLS's premier franchises. The Sounders won yet another U.S. Open Cup and advanced past the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League. While they could not vanquish their nemesis Galaxy in ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.

This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but the Seattle Sounders are close to hiring Kasey Keller to be their color commentator for the 2012 MLS season, according to Joshua Mayers. A color commentator spot seemed to be Keller's most likely role with the team ever since he retired and made it clear that he he hoped to remain with the Sounders in some capacity.

The New Year is upon us and 2012 is shaping up to be another exciting and eventful year in the American soccer scene, but before we dive into a full schedule of big events, it is time to think about the year we just completed.

What will you remember about 2011? It surely varies from fan to fan, region to region, but there was plenty for fans from every corner of the United States to remember.

Kasey Keller Wins MLS Moment of Year

His final regular season game (also Date with Sounder at Heart Day) won nearly 50% of the vote. The TA singing the national anthem came in at 31% and the Galaxy winning MLS Cup at 19%. There's clearly some rounding.

He's big. He's tall. He's a ____ wall.

There was a single moment of 2011 that has managed to stay in the back of my mind for months. It is a moment that few would care to remember but I believe it is one of importance. Early in the season there was an ill-fated tackle from a scrambling Brian Mullan that ended the season of Seatlle's Steve Zakuani.

The Sigi-bunker is in a worse state of disrepair than usual. TV screens looking down from the rafters flicker on and off. The screen showing a loop of Kasey Keller smashing into a goal post is the only screen 100% functional.

A computer terminal shows the disfigured face of Bruce Arena in mid-edit in Final Cut.

Even for the most faithful Seattle Sounders supporters among us, this has been a bit of a rough off-season. The numbers fairly illustrate why: Nine players that were part of the team during the final game of the season are no longer here. Those players represent more than 14,000 minutes of all-competition playing time or about 29 percent of the total minutes played by the team.

Photo: Earl Gardner

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

When the Philadelphia Union took goalkeeper Zac MacMath as their first round pick in the 2011 MLS Superdraft, many a fan and pundit were left saying "Huh?

Kasey Keller Apparently Auditioned At ESPN

Hardly the focus of this Q&A with ESPN's soccer editor James Martin (who knew they had one?!?!), he mentions that Kasey Keller was auditioning for a broadcast job with the sports leader. Otherwise, there's some interesting stuff in there about how Keller sees the soccer world.

When the Alliance Council asked for a larger role in the planning and execution of the End of Year Business Meeting the goal was for a more streamlined event, less repetitive Q&A and an increase in participation overall. On those three goals we probably got 2.5 right. This recap is built from the team's official live blog, my tweets from backstage and my memory of the event.

Seattle Sounders players vote to recognize their vision of the MVP and Defender of the Year. This differs slightly from recognition given by Sounder at Heart in that here there are awards for Offensive, Defensive and Young Players of a given season. Still there is a certain overlap.

Osvaldo Alonso's performance in 2011 earned him recognition from both his teammates and readers here.

After months of speculation, it is finally official: Mauro Rosales has re-signed with the Seattle Sounders. Exact terms of the deal were not released, as this is MLS, but the team has confirmed that Rosales has signed a multi-year deal that could make him a Designated Player. Rosales will be announced as the team's newest signing as the first order of business during Tuesday's End of Year Business Meeting

Rosales' contract would qualify him to be categorized as a DP, but the team is holding off on finalizing that part until they determine if the required allocation dollars would be better used elsewhere.

Swedish midfielder Erik Friberg became the latest Seattle Sounder to depart this off-season, moving to Swedish club Malmo on Monday in a transfer announced by the Sounders.

Friberg played 26 matches for Seattle, recording a goal and assist for the Sounders.

The off-season has been a busy one for the Sounders, who had already lost goalkeeper Kasey Keller to retirement, James Riley and Tyson Wahl in the expansion draft, as well as Nate Jaqua and Pat Noonan in the re-entry draft.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Move to the front page for the sake of discussion on this rather dull weekend. - Jeremiah

Very simple question: who will replace Kasey Keller as captain of the Sounders this season?

Some thought it might be Riley: it clearly won't now. I've included some likely possibilities, as well as an 'other' option.

As Sigi Schmid said several times today, "there is no replacing Kasey Keller." Instead Michael Gspurning is just the Seattle Soundersnext keeper. The Austrian Keeper is younger, taller and offers something that Keller didn't have. While he will need to make the saves and learn to command the backline as well as Keller did Gspurning offers a new passing option in the back.

The Seattle Sounders' search for Kasey Keller's successor has been completed.

Seattle announced the long-rumored signing of Austrian goalkeeper Michael Gspurning on Wednesday, ushering in a new era between the posts at CenturyLink Field.

"First off, you don't replace Kasey Keller.

In today's announcement the Seattle Sounders made it clear that Michael Gspurning (guh-SHPURN-ing) is not replacing Kasey Keller, but instead the team's new goalkeeper. Long having been rumored to sign with the club, Gspurning's signing is finally official. The Austrian earned 3 CAPs with the national team and 96 appearances in the Greek and Austrian top-flights, twice being named an All-Star in Greece.

Editor's note: Heard about this happening but didn't catch it. In any case, some fun speculation as to what Kasey Keller's appearance on Fox Soccer Channel could mean for his future with the Sounders. - Jeremiah

My wife and I almost missed it as we sat down to watch a DVR of Chelsea hosting Valencia in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage in what was an elimination game.

As people across the United States get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, we give you some extra food for thought as we look at the year by the numbers. Here's 11 from '11:

• A total of 46 players earned at least one cap for the full team; under Klinsmann, 28 players got at least one game.

It isn't that Seattle Sounders FC's defense was poor, in fact is was quite good. The team gave up only 50 goals in all 48 competitive games for a 1.04 Goals Against Average. But there were two chronic issues - a weakness on the counter and probably merely average against set-pieces. Underlying the stopping of the opposition is a desire and recognition at the club to be better playing the ball out of the back.

Union

Ahead of last week's end of the season press conference, we posted a piece that looked at all of the different midfield lineups the Union fielded in 2011 (there were 26 of them). MLSsoccer.com published a piece yesterday with quotes from Nowak defending his use of so many different lineups and formations.

As you know, Sounder at Heart does not have any official supporters' group affiliation. We do, however, consider ourselves friends of most of them. If you'd like to know any of them better, we highly recommend that you attend one of their two end-of-year parties. As it turns out, Kasey Keller is scheduled to be at both of them.

Kasey Keller gets another nod of recognition. This time through the power of the fans who selected his flurry against the San Jose Earthquakes as the Major League Soccer Save of the Year. Pulling in 42% of the vote the Seattle Sounders keeper beat out Troy Perkins' two nominations and outfield player Teemu Tainio's incredible move.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Union

Justin Mapp reflects on the 2011 season,

"I think I've been on some pretty good teams. This Union team was maybe as rewarding as any season because of how much we improved and got better in a short amount of time. We made the playoffs and that was a huge step for the franchise.

Photo by Bill Barrett/ISIphotos.com

Kasey Keller won't be the only Seattle Sounders player with an end-of-season award this year.

Mauro Rosales won the MLS Newcomer of the Year award on Tuesday, beating out a class of more than 80 players that made the jump to MLS from leagues abroad this past year.

Not too many people had heard of Mauro Rosales when it was announced the Seattle Sounders had signed the former River Plate, Ajax and Newell's Old Boys midfielder. After posting five goals and 13 assists in his first MLS season, though, that's clearly no longer the case as he was named Major League Soccer's Newcomer of the Year.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Carlos Bocanegra has enjoyed a distinguished career as a U.S. national team defender, and he joined exclusive company on Tuesday, becoming the 12th player in U.S. Soccer history to reach 100 caps.

The steady U.S. captain marked the 3-2 victory over Slovenia by joining Cobi Jones, Jeff Agoos, Landon Donovan, Marcelo Balboa, Claudio Reyna, Paul Caligiuri, Eric Wynalda, Kasey Keller, Earnie Stewart, Tony Meola and Joe-Max Moore in the century club at the start of his 90-minute shift.

This probably won't be the last time we all hear from Kasey Keller, but this is his final interview while, ostensibly, a member of the Seattle Sounders.

When I saw the MLS Best XI the other day, what first struck me wasn't that Kasey Keller made the list, or Osvaldo Alonso didn't, or that there were 4 Galaxy players. Actually, my first reaction was "wow, I would NEVER field that XI in an actual match!"

This has nothing to do with talent, of course, but more to do with structure and roles.