SEATTLE -- Kasey Keller was at a loss for words.
Looking back at D.C. United’s second goal, the veteran goalkeeper still couldn’t believe that Chris Pontius’ shot wound up in the back of the net.
The miscue contributed to a 3-2 Seattle loss on Thursday night, a defeat that came as a surprise considering that only four days prior the Sounders had easily routed the New England Revolution. With the way the team played that day, it’s no wonder that the goal —and Thursday’s night’s loss— weighed heavily on the keeper.
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Which is why, after giving up a similar goal in a match against Los Angeles earlier in the season, Keller openly questioned his future.
“I’ve said my whole career that once I feel I can’t do the job, then I have to stop doing [it],” Keller said. “I feel great physically. I feel great in training. Everything’s going great.
“It’s just frustrating with this game —and the LA game— that I’ve hurt the team when my job is to keep them in the game.”
Keller, who had said last year that he expected to play through the 2011 season, now faces a 17-day layoff before Seattle resumes action at Philadelphia on June 27. It will be a period of soul-searching for the veteran goalkeeper, who just four years ago was representing the United States at the 2006 World Cup.
Now, with his former USMNT teammates in South Africa, Keller will be left to think about his future.
“I wanted to play another year, but not if I don’t play to the level I expect of myself and the way the fans and the coaching staff and the players expect of me,” the Sounders’ keeper said. “I will work extremely hard to try and make it better.”
Keller’s illustrious international career spans 102 caps over 18 years. The backup goalkeeper to Tony Meola in the 1990 World Cup, Keller was on the roster in 1998 and 2002 and started all three matches in Germany ’06. His play in the 2009 MLS season was scintillating, as he came up with several saves at key moments for the expansion Sounders.
With the recent press surrounding the World Cup ball, it should be noted that MLS uses the same Adidas Jabulani globe that will be used in South Africa. In an attempt to explain the mistake, Keller noted that the ball does behave erratically at times, but quickly noted that he’s taken thousands of shots in training with the same ball.
“You can talk about the ball and, obviously, there’s been a lot of press from the guys in the World Cup about how terrible this ball is, and it is,” Keller said “It’s frustrating.”
“What probably makes it more frustrating [is that] you know the ball is going to do crazy things and you’re able to react to it for the most part,” said Keller. “Even today, after I blocked it, I thought I had it and it just kind of spun away from me.”
