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IN THIS ISSUE Editor-In-Chief Robert Casner
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Creative Director/Designer Ty Kreft Assistant Editors Kristi Bruner Alex Caulfield Danny Ciaccio Ryan Krasnoo Kelly Schutz Kyle Sheldon Matt Winter
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2017 SCHEDULE
10
MEET THE TEAM
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THE COMPETITOR INSIDE CLINT DEMPSEY
Cover Illustrator Matthew Shipley Contributing Photographers Mike Fiechtner Jane Gershovich Dan Poss Corky Trewin Charis Wilson Getty Images USA Today Sports Images Moral Support Ryan Schaber
CLOSER LOOK
Cristian and Stef make a surprise visit, the Special Olympics’ Cascadia clash and fans mingle with players at the stadium
27 games down, 7 to play in the MLS regular season
A few bookworms share some of their favorite summer reads
What, exactly, makes the kid from Nacogdoches different from the rest? WORDS BY ALLEN RAMSEY
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THE GREAT ESCAPE OF 2008
How did two goalkeepers from Washington end up in a frenetic finish in the EPL? WORDS BY RYAN KRASNOO
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LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM
He’s made an immediate impact for the Rave Green – and it all starts with his head WORDS BY ALEX CAULFIELD
38 © 2017 by Major League Soccer, LLC and Seattle Soccer, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written consent of Seattle Soccer, LLC is prohibited. Seattle Sounders FC 159 South Jackson, Suite 200 Seattle, WA 98104 887-MLS-GOAL SoundersFC.com
CRISTIAN ROLDAN'S BIG SUPPER
Five guests. Lots of food. One incredible dream meal.
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THE ADVENTURES OF JORDAN & CRISTIAN
The boys hit Occidental Park before a match aiming to find those pesky missing gloves COMIC BY MLS WATERCOLORIST
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CLOSER LOOK
AUGUST 10, 2017
Cristian Roldan and Stefan Frei stop by for a surprise at Tiffany & Co. to pick up the MLS Cup trophy after a cleaning session.
AUGUST 13, 2017
Román Torres high-fives a fan during the club’s Season Ticket Member Celebration at CenturyLink Field.
AUGUST 26, 2017
Steve Zakuani congratulates a player after the Special Olympics Washington Unified team hosted the Portland Timbers Unified team at Starfire Stadium.
2017 SCHEDULE OPPONENT
DAY
DATE
TIME
TV
Houston Dynamo
Sat
March 4
5:30 PM
Q13 Fox
Montreal Impact
Sat
March 11
4:00 PM
JoeTV
New York Red Bulls
Sun
March 19
4:00 PM
FS1
Club Necaxa*
Sat
March 25
7:00 PM
JoeTV
Atlanta United FC
Fri
March 31
7:00 PM
FS1
San Jose Earthquakes
Sat
April 8
7:30 PM
Q13 Fox
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Fri
April 14
7:00 PM
Q13 Fox
LA Galaxy
Sun
April 23
1:00 PM
ESPN
New England Revolution
Sat
April 29
7:00 PM
JoeTV
Toronto FC
Sat
May 6
12:00 PM
ESPN
Chicago Fire
Sat
May 13
6:00 PM
ESPN2
Sporting Kansas City
Wed
May 17
5:30 PM
JoeTV
Real Salt Lake
Sat
May 20
2:00 PM
JoeTV
Portland Timbers
Sat
May 27
12:00 PM
Q13 Fox
Columbus Crew SC
Wed
May 31
4:30 PM
Q13 Fox
Houston Dynamo
Sun
June 4
7:00 PM
JoeTV
New York City FC
Sat
June 17
10:00 AM
ESPN
Orlando City
Wed
June 21
7:30 PM
JoeTV
Portland Timbers
Sun
June 25
1:00 PM
ESPN2
Colorado Rapids
Tue
July 4
6:00 PM
Q13 Fox
Eintracht Frankfurt*
Sat
July 8
12:00 PM
JoeTV
D.C. United
Wed
July 19
7:30 PM
Q13 Fox
San Jose Earthquakes
Sun
July 23
7:30 PM
JoeTV
LA Galaxy
Sat
July 29
7:00 PM
ESPN2
Minnesota United FC
Sat
August 5
5:00 PM
Q13 Fox
Sporting Kansas City
Sat
August 12
1:00 PM
JoeTV
Minnesota United FC
Sun
August 20
7:00 PM
FS1
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Wed
August 23
7:00 PM
JoeTV
Portland Timbers
Sun
August 27
6:30 PM
FS1
LA Galaxy
Sun
September 10
6:00 PM
FS1
FC Dallas
Sat
September 16
5:00 PM
JoeTV
Real Salt Lake
Sat
September 23
6:30 PM
JoeTV
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Wed
September 27
7:30 PM
JoeTV
Philadelphia Union
Sun
October 1
10:00 AM
ESPN
FC Dallas
Sun
October 15
4:30 PM
JoeTV
Colorado Rapids
Sun
October 22
1:00 PM
JoeTV
HOME MATCH
AWAY MATCH
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY
RESULT
RADIO BROADCAST ON 107.7 FM THE END
All matches broadcast LIVE on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM | El Rey 1360AM
9
MEET THE TEAM
12 SEYI ADEKOYA FORWARD
15 TONY ALFARO DEFENDER
6 OSVALDO ALONSO MIDFIELDER
Oliver Kahn's autobiography Ich: Erfolg kommt von innen
3 BRAD EVANS DEFENDER
91 ONIEL FISHER DEFENDER
24 STEFAN FREI GOALKEEPER
10 NICOLÁS LODEIRO MIDFIELDER
16 CALUM MALLACE MIDFIELDER
14 CHAD MARSHALL DEFENDER
13 JORDAN MORRIS FORWARD
27 LAMAR NEAGLE MIDFIELDER
5 NOUHOU DEFENDER
4 GUSTAV SVENSSON MIDFIELDER
29 ROMÁN TORRES DEFENDER
23 HENRY WINGO MIDFIELDER
Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin
The Green Mile by Stephen King
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Q: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
17 WILL BRUIN FORWARD
21 JORDY DELEM DEFENDER
2 CLINT DEMPSEY FORWARD
33 JOEVIN JONES DEFENDER
11 AARON KOVAR MIDFIELDER
18 KELVIN LEERDAM DEFENDER
32 ZACH MATHERS MIDFIELDER
35 BRYAN MEREDITH GOALKEEPER
1 TYLER MILLER GOALKEEPER
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
8 VÍCTOR RODRÍGUEZ MIDFIELDER
7 CRISTIAN ROLDAN MIDFIELDER
COACHING STAFF
19 HARRY SHIPP MIDFIELDER
TOM DUTRA GK COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER HEAD COACH
DJIMI TRAORE ASST. COACH GONZALO PINEDA ASST. COACH
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What are the qualities that make Clint Dempsey the greatest player in USMNT history?
The Competitor Inside Clint Dempsey by Allen Ramsey
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It’s been over a decade since Clint Dempsey achieved his childhood dream. June 17, 2006. The USA was coming off a disappointing 3-0 FIFA World Cup opening loss to the Czech Republic. Italy was next up and Dempsey, who did not see the field in the first match, was inserted into the starting lineup against the eventual world champion. He played with a reckless abandon, running at defenders, whipping in crosses and proving that he belonged on the field with the best in the world. Five days later against Ghana, with the USA needing a result to advance out of the group and trailing 1-0, Dempsey held off a defender as he raced onto a DaMarcus Beasley cross, firing home with his right foot and giving his country hope. Ghana would win the game 2-1, eliminating the U.S. from the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but at just 23-years-old, the Nacogdoches, Texas native had reached the goal he’s worked his whole life for. “It brought a lot of peace, because of the grind,” Dempsey said. “All those trips back and forth to Dallas for training, three hours there and back and not knowing if it was ever going to happen. Just to keep working so hard and not making national teams, or making national teams and then with the U-20s I didn’t play much. “Then in ’06, finally getting the opportunity to play significant minutes, and to score, it was very fulfilling and brought me peace because I knew I could play at the highest level and succeed.” ______________________________________ Dempsey is as competitive as any person you will ever meet. Be it fishing, golf, dominoes or Mario Kart, if there’s a way to keep score, it’s a good bet that he is playing to win. He wants to be the best. That competitive spirit has been on display from a very early age.
Farshid Niroumand, who coached Dempsey, his older brother Ryan and his younger brother Lance at Nacogdoches High School, remembers a young Clint showing up for local summer soccer camps with a water jug on his arm, ready to take on all challengers no matter what age or skill level. “Right there you knew he had a lot of desire and you knew he wanted to compete with the bigger boys,” Niroumand said.
Physically he was very small, but he had some tenacity. So, because of his tenacity and skill and desire I said: 'Let's put him on the varsity because he makes a difference.' Farshid Niroumand
DEMPSEY'S HIGH SCHOOL COACH
Ryan, five years Clint’s senior, was a star at Nacogdoches, a perennial powerhouse program in East Texas, and was the first member of the Dempsey family to join a Dallas-area soccer club in search of a higher level of competition. Clint soon followed, and by the time he was a freshman it was clear that he was ahead of the game. “When he came to the high school I realized he was good enough to play for the varsity,” Niroumand said. “Physically he was very small, but he had some tenacity. So, because of his tenacity and skill and desire I said: ‘Let’s put him in the varsity because he makes a difference,’ and sure enough he did. It was a very pleasant surprise.” Making the varsity squad as a freshman may seem like a small thing now, but at the time in Nacogdoches it was rarity. The Nacogdoches program was loaded with talent, and despite
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his obvious skill, his small stature as a freshman made for an uphill climb. “I remember being so slow they called me Turbo,” Dempsey says with a laugh. “Not that I’ve ever been fast, but I always thought that was funny. “You had to push your game, figure out ways to adapt, use your skill and your intelligence, and as you grew older you started to catch them with your physical side. It was a great opportunity to test myself, for sure, playing against people who are older than you and more athletic than you.” It was a challenge he quickly conquered. After contributing heavily to the team as a freshman, Dempsey hit a growth spurt. By the end of his sophomore season he was among the best players in the district. Dempsey finished his high school career in 2001 as a three-time district champion and the district MVP. As Niroumand recalls: “Clint, his desire, his commitment to the game and him being
a student of the game, always separated him from the others. On top of that, he had a great attitude that ‘I am as good as anyone else and I’m going to prove it to you. Either respect me, or I’m going to embarrass you.’” He was also making a name for himself on the national club circuit with the Dallas Texans and with the state and regional team. Even with the time constraints that came from traveling around the state and country to play, he always managed to keep on top of the other things that were necessary for him to succeed despite the sometimes frustrating path he was forced to take. “I saw a different side of Clint Dempsey that most people never see,” Niroumand says. “I saw him when he was very happy, jubilant, and I saw him when he was depressed. I saw him when he was in the classroom. I saw his conduct. “He was academically very intelligent. He would spend a lot of time practicing, a lot of time on the road, and getting back to town late at night, and he still had great grades, [and] was a member of the National Honor Society.”
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Dempsey’s rise to prominence came relatively quickly. Following a standout college career at Furman University and a stint with the U.S. under-20 national team, Dempsey was taken eighth overall in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft and right from the start the team that he fell to, the New England Revolution, felt like they had a special player on their hands. Paul Mariner, an assistant coach with the Revolution at the time, remembers having a conversation with then-New England coach Steve Nicol during the team’s training camp in the Azores as the two were helping set up for training. “So we’re carrying the goals out and Stevie says: ‘We’ve got to find a place for this kid. We’ve got to change the system. We’ve got to come up with some idea, because he’s the real deal. This guy’s got to play.’” It didn’t take long for the Revolution to find a place for him to flourish. Dempsey finished his first season as a professional having helped his side to the Eastern Conference finals, and winning personal accolades as MLS Rookie of the Year despite breaking his jaw during the season. “He had it all, to be honest,” Mariner said. “His work ethic, he would listen to us and he would put into practice what we were trying to do as a team on the field. Technically, a very, very confident player on the ball, his first touch, and he would try the old no-look pass. He’s a very entertaining player to watch and we were thrilled to get him.” Dempsey’s play in 2004 earned him recognition on the national stage as well. His first chance with the full national team came against Jamaica in a November World Cup qualifier that same year. A spot on the USA’s 2005 Gold Cup roster soon followed, and when it came time for Bruce Arena to select a squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Dempsey’s name was on the list. “He’s unorthodox in his methods and in scoring goals,” Arena says of the man he brought in the national team all those years
ago. “Whether it’s off a set piece or in the run of play, he’s an extremely creative attacking player, he’s a very confident player, he believes he can score goals and he does.” As Arena sees it, those same qualities were on display even as Dempsey was trying to find his footing at the international level. “As a young player he was like that,” he said. “He’s always had an aggressive mentality. It’s been said many times he plays a little bit with a chip on his shoulder, maybe not as much anymore, but he’s a real competitor and he gets out there and he believes he’s a goalscorer. And he proves it most of the times he steps on the field.”
He's always had an aggressive mentality. It's been said many times he plays a little bit with a chip on his shoulder... he gets out there and he believes he's a goalscorer. Bruce Arena
U . S . M E N ' S N AT I O N A L T E A M C O A C H
When Dempsey made his way to Seattle the days of needing to prove himself as a player were long gone. In the years between that first World Cup and his move back to MLS, he had established himself as one of the top players in the English top flight with Fulham, setting the club’s Premier League goal-scoring record and closing the 2011/2012 season with 17 league goals, good enough for joint fourth on the scoring charts. He had also grown into one of the key figures for the U.S. national team, helping the side to the 2009 Confederations Cup final and to the Round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. When the chance came for the Sounders to sign him from Tottenham it was, as Adrian
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Hanauer says, “kind of a no-brainer.” The Sounders’ majority owner says he and his partner Joe Roth had admired Dempsey from afar for years and had brought his name up several times as a sort of dream signing. Though Hanauer admits that he felt there was little chance of it happening, the club stayed in touch with Lyle Yorks, Dempsey’s agent, and the league offices, and in the summer of 2013 it all came together. “One day in the summer of 2013, Joe got a call from the commissioner, I got a call from (MLS Executive Vice President, Competition & Player Relations) Todd Durbin, saying ‘Hey, I think there’s a chance to bring Clint back to MLS,’ and Joe and I had one 15-second conversation and said: ‘Yep, let’s try to get this done,” Hanauer recalls. “It was obviously the quality Clint brings on the field, but his determination, his attitude, his grit, his… kind of a swagger that he brought, [we] thought that it would help us win games but also play good soccer.” While Dempsey’s return to MLS, just a year after making a move Tottenham, and with him still in the prime of his career, caught many people off guard at the time, the reasoning behind it isn’t confusing to those who know him best. “The one thing Clint has always valued above his career is his family,” said Michael Villarreal, a high school teammate and long-time friend. “It was a shock to see him come back just before a World Cup in a way, but at the same time it wasn’t a shock because coming back to the States offered him a chance to be closer to his family back home and to be able to raise his children in America.” As Dempsey puts it: “I got the opportunity to come back to MLS after playing for six or seven years in Europe and, for me, I was excited about the challenge because they moved mountains to get me. It was a great opportunity for me to come back to the States and raise my kids, because they were getting older. I wanted them to have some of the same experiences as me growing up, but I also wanted to be closer to family after being
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gone so long and seeing grandparents getting older and stuff like that, and I wanted to make the most of family time. “I also wanted to come back to help grow the game in the States and I was fortunate to be able to come to Seattle, because where else in MLS could you go where the fans are so passionate and create such a great atmosphere?” Dempsey’s move has, in a very real way, helped grow the game – at least in MLS. Since his signing with Seattle, U.S. national team standouts like Michael Bradley, Alejandro Bedoya and Jozy Altidore have made similar moves back to the U.S. from Europe, helping erase the stigma that the quality of the league wasn’t high enough for international-quality players. It has also allowed many people to see the other side of him, away from the field, where he’s fully embraced the love and adoration he’s gotten from the hometown fans. Dempsey hasn’t lost that competitive edge, he’s still a fighter on the field, still wants to be the best, but from trading popcorn for a jersey to walking onto the pitch with his children, he has shown a softer side in Seattle, as well. “I think Clint has opened up a little bit and certainly opened up to our fan base,” Hanauer says. After a recent fan event in Seattle, Hanauer recalls running into Dempsey who, along with his teammates, had just spent hours signing memorabilia and taking photos and being pleased with his star man’s reaction to the time with the fans. “He was awesome,” Hanauer said. “He was in good spirits, understood that it was good for our sport in this country, that it was good for our club and that it was important to the fans. “I don’t know how Clint was necessarily in the early days in MLS and in Europe, but he certainly, to me, has become a great citizen, a great young man, a great family man and someone who, when it’s all said and done, we will be extremely proud to have had him don the Sounders jersey for these years.”
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by Ryan Krasnoo 22
HOW TWO SOUNDERS – KASEY KELLER AND MARCUS HAHNEMANN – STARRED IN ARGUABLY THE MOST FAMOUS RELEGATION BATTLE IN THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE.
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FROM THE TOP,
THE ONLY PLACE TO GO IS HIGHER. YOU CAN’T STOP SOUNDERS FC.
OFFICIAL AIRLINE
Marcus Hahnemann knew something was not right. He sat at his dining room table on the night of April, 12, 2008 alongside his wife, Amanda, Kasey Keller and Keller’s wife, Kristin. Hahnemann hung his head, upset. As the 2007-08 English Premier League season neared its conclusion, things were not going Reading’s way. His Royals had just lost at home to Keller’s Fulham on Matchday 34, and Hahnemann and Keller’s families dined together afterward as they so often did. Reading is roughly 40 miles west of London, and the two American goalkeepers would chat and meet up regularly after Keller transferred to the Cottagers in 2007 from Germany’s Borussia Monchengladbach. The win that night was Fulham’s first road victory in the Premier League in nearly 18 months. It offered slight hope of avoiding relegation in what had been a terribly disappointing and underwhelming season. Reading, however, was three points clear of relegation and five in front of Fulham, but Reading wasn’t playing to its potential. “Marcus was really down for Marcus, which was kind of unheard of,” Keller recalled of that evening. “He really felt that that was a big problem. At that point, Reading was in lower-mid table but not getting the results they needed, losing to a team at home in the relegation zone. He looked at it like, ‘Hey guys, we need to pull our heads out of our asses, this is a wake-up call that we can get sucked into this thing.’ They were like, ‘No, we’re fine.’ Then we [at Fulham] get ourselves on a run.” _______________________________________ Reading dominated the English Championship, the second tier in English football below the Premier League, in 200506. It finished with 106 points, a remarkable 14 points more than second-place finisher Sheffield United. Midway through that season, promotion to the EPL seemed inevitable. The front office sold the remaining season tickets in the
Championship as a bundle with tickets for the following season, guaranteeing a seat in the Premier League for those who purchased them. Reading even acquired season ticket memberships from fans of Swindon Town FC, a team 40 miles west that competed in Football League One, England’s third tier. Reading was an inexpensive and close option to watch the EPL in person. “They were pseudo-Reading fans,” Hahnemann explained, “because they had another club to support but they wanted to see Premier League soccer and it was the only way they were going to get to see it.” The financial boost for clubs going from the English Championship to the English Premier League is almost unfathomable. According to The Telegraph, a team joining the top tier of English football today can earn upward of £200 million, or around $258 million. Much of that sum is comprised of hefty broadcast and commercial revenue, but increases in sponsorship and kit manufacturing deals also play a key role. The final major contributor is what’s known as a “parachute payment,” a newer rule that ensures clubs who are relegated after a single season still receive two years of payment. This number could reach as high as £80 million, or $103 million. “I look back on how crazy and competitive the Premier League is with the money involved,” said Hahnemann. “There’s such a massive difference in going up and down [in leagues] for the clubs and what it means not only to the clubs, but for the fans.” Reading had no such trouble in its first EPL season in 2006-07. The Royals finished comfortably in 8th place with 55 points from 38 matches, but with great success came poaching from the league’s best and most expensive clubs. Chelsea signed midfielder Steve Sidwell on a free transfer following the 2007 season after he starred for Reading for four years. Sidwell reportedly denied a four-year deal with the Royals before signing a massive contract with the Blues and tossing Reading into unexpected turmoil. “That was a big disruption,” Hahnemann
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lamented. “It’s not about the money, but it sort of becomes that when it’s your profession. Some jealousy crept into the team and it really hurt us.” _______________________________________ Nothing went Fulham’s way for the majority of the 2007-08 season. It defeated Bolton on Matchday 2 in August, but then won only one match in the next six months as it flirted more and more with a seemingly resigned fate.
Said the BBC announcer calling the game after Kamara’s goal: “And the great escape for Roy Hodgson’s Fulham is definitely on.”
Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez took over interim managerial duties in April of the previous year after the club sacked Chris Coleman. Fulham then signed Sanchez to a long-term deal, but ultimately fired him in December 2007, just four months into his first season in charge.
Fulham still had work to do and needed help from other results. In the penultimate match of the season, Fulham downed Birmingham City for its third win in its last four matches while Reading fell at home to Tottenham.
Fulham then brought in Finland manager Roy Hodgson, an English coach with over 30 years of experience. Things got better under Hodgson, but not convincingly and certainly not as expedited as management or the fans hoped. “[Hodgson’s hiring] kind of took everybody by surprise,” Keller said. “Roy pretty quickly assessed the team and reorganized. It wasn’t one of those things where it was instantaneous where the team just automatically changed results around. We were picking up a few results here and there and staying within touching distance, but weren’t making the run we needed to get ourselves out of trouble.” Following the win at Reading and dinner at Hahnemann’s house, Fulham lost 2-0 at Liverpool, and with three matches left were all but guaranteed to be going down. But Fulham, which had been in 19th place since the new year, hung around long enough.
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“It looked bleak at halftime, and we had a mountain to climb,” Hodgson said afterward. “At 2-0, I honestly thought we weren’t out of it. I never lost hope, but to win it was extraordinary. We’ve given ourselves a chance now.”
Down 2-0 at Manchester City in the 70th minute, Fulham incredulously struck three times in 20 minutes to steal three points. Diomansy Kamara beat Joe Hart to cut the deficit in half before Danny Murphy equalized in the 79th minute. Hart stopped Murphy’s initial penalty kick, but Murphy tapped in the rebound to make it 2-2. Kamara found the back of the net again in stoppage time to cap the miraculous comeback.
_______________________________________
“I remember our last home game,” said Keller. “We won and it took us out of the relegation zone at the expense of Reading, which had slipped down after a foreshadowing of Marcus’ thought process.” Heading into the final week of the season, Fulham and Reading were even on points. Fulham entered with a six-goal edge on goal differential, the ultimate tiebreaker, but needed a win at Portsmouth to all but ensure safety. “We were away at Portsmouth, and the last thing we wanted to do was get ourselves in a situation where you get yourself out only to mess it up in the last game,” recalled Keller.
"WE WON AND IT TOOK US OUT OF THE RELEGATION ZONE AT THE EXPENSE OF READING, WHICH SLIPPED DOWN." KASEY KELLER ON FULHAM'S GREAT ESCAPE
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00
“The hard part of that last game was that with the teams around us, we couldn’t have a draw. We had to win the game to guarantee it. Everybody around us won. If we did slip up, if we did draw against Portsmouth, then Reading would have come out of relegation. “A lot of people had written us off,” he continued, “so to string together clean sheets and a series of results … it was great do that.” Hahnemann and Reading defeated league bottom dwellers Derby County 4-0 on the final day, but it wasn’t enough given Fulham’s win over Portsmouth, a side that Hahnemann believes threw in the towel. “Portsmouth didn’t field anybody in the game against Fulham,” Hahnemann said frustratingly, “because they were in a cup final the next week and they rested a bunch of guys.” Fulham’s dramatic survival and Reading’s disappointing end to the season — the Royals only won once in their final seven matches, losing four — was bittersweet for Keller. His success and performance helped demote his friend and fellow Pacific Northwester out of the Premier League. “We were together the whole time,” Keller said of his stint in England with Hahnemann. “That’s one of those things a lot of people don’t understand. Yes, you play for rival teams and you’re friends with guys from different teams,
and you want to succeed and you will do your best. When you’re on the field, you’re on the field. That’s completely separate. Once you’re off the field, it’s a completely different life.” Keller and Hahnemann were part of an even larger contingency of American goalkeepers in the EPL at that time. Along with Blackburn’s Brad Friedel and Everton’s Tim Howard, one fifth of the Premier League’s starting goalkeepers were American. The fact that two were originally from an hour apart in Western Washington is even more rare. “It’s one of those strange anomalies that happens, and you hear about it in different sports where these three guys went to the same high school and they’re playing against each other in the NBA or in Major League Baseball,” said Keller. “That’s something that will probably never happen again.” Keller left Fulham after that season and one year later he started in goal for the expansion Seattle Sounders in their inaugural MLS match. Hahnemann would stay with Reading for one more season before joining Wolverhampton and then Everton before signing with his hometown Sounders himself in 2012, a year after Keller’s retirement. “Marcus and I have been good friends for a long time,” Keller said proudly, “and just because we were battling relegation didn’t mean we stopped being good friends.”
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Born in a former Dutch enclave in South America and raised on the proud football culture of the Netherlands, Kelvin Leerdam is now living the American dream and impacting Sounders FC in the process.
BY ALEX CAULFIELD 31
By his own admission, Kelvin Leerdam has lived a fortunate life. Playing in some of the biggest games European football has to offer adds to that perspective, as does helping to anchor a surging Sounders backline as the Rave Green approach the business end of their current MLS campaign. But as Sounders Monthly sits down with the Dutch fullback for his first matchday magazine feature, the conversation begins with a rivalry he knows too well. Grinning from within the confines of Seattle’s Starfire Sports training facility, Leerdam recounts his time playing within Holland’s fiercest and oldest football feud: Feyenoord versus Ajax. “It’s the two biggest teams in the Netherlands, and everybody knows it,” says the 27-year-old right back. “Feyenoord was the first to win the European Cup, and after that of course Ajax had a lot of European success. They have the biggest fanbases, and there’s fire there. Many times they are not allowed to have away supporters, and it’s based on the history of both teams. I’m very lucky to have played in these games, not a lot of young Dutch guys have a chance to play in these matches.” It was within the crucible of these types of Dutch topflight contests that a young Leerdam honed his craft. Often overlooked by casual soccer observers that have their heads turned by the extreme amounts of money being bandied about in England’s Premier League or the top-heavy elite class of Spain’s La Liga, the Eredivisie – the formal name of the Netherlands’ top domestic soccer league – has quietly produced some of the best clubs and players the world has ever seen. At the top of that list are the two teams that compete in De Klassieker (Dutch for “the Classic”), with Amsterdam’s Ajax and Rotterdam-based Feyenoord doing battle for Netherlands supremacy since 1921.
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Leerdam competes against his cousin Georginio Wijnaldum in a Feyenoord-PSV Eredivisie match.
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A fixture that pits the two largest cities in the Netherlands against one another, the rivalry is also viewed as a cultural clash. Ajax plays the role of the urban elite within the fixture, representing the nation’s largest economy and Amsterdam’s artistic sensibilities. Rotterdambased Feyenoord has more working class roots, embodying the hardworking spirit of Europe’s largest port city that had to entirely rebuild and reinvent itself following the Blitz in 1940. The stakes for the two sets of fans are real, as are the implications for European qualification each season.
, IT S NOT EASY TO COME TO ANOTHER COUNTRY... BUT MY FIRST GAME AGAINST PORTLAND WAS A SPECIAL GAME, A BIG GAME. I FELT THE SUPPORT OF THE FANS. This was the backdrop for a young Leerdam, who featured for Feyenoord as both a youth player and for the senior squad from 2008 through 2013, making more than 100 appearances for the Rotterdam side across all competitions. During Nicolás Lodeiro’s stay with Ajax between 2010 and 2012, Sounders FC was represented on both sides of the rivalry, with Leerdam quick to point out a fond memory with a chuckle against his Seattle teammate. “There were always quality players, and I remember Nico [Lodeiro]. I know I beat him at home, and we won that game 4-0 or 4-1 in our stadium, and Ajax was eventually [Eredivisie] champion. It’s a very big game.” Leerdam continues, “It means a lot to me and to Dutch football to have such big teams, it’s a special feeling and I’m lucky to have felt that atmosphere.”
Now on a different continent and plying his trade for a new club, Leerdam experienced his first taste of both legs of the Cascadia Cup with Seattle during the end of August, as Sounders FC faced Vancouver and Portland within five days of each other to conclude the month. While both matches produced 1-1 draws, Leerdam once again found himself on the biggest stage of his respective league. “It’s not easy to come to another country … but my first game against Portland was a special game, a big game. I felt the support of the fans, it’s a special game for the league, because it can only bring the level up. Especially because now you see Seattle is number one, and Portland is number two… it’s these kind of games that make the league grow.” For the tenured players on Seattle’s roster that have familiarity with the Cascadia matches, Leerdam indicated that the stakes of both contests were clear, setting the tone for his first taste of North America’s oldest soccer rivalries. “You see how the players act. I see the actions of my teammates in the locker room and in training, players who want extra tickets [for their families and friends], things like that. There is a special feeling for the guys. [In the Portland match] I got an elbow [to the face] and I felt the reaction and the support of our fans. Those kind of little things let you know how big the game is … you feel the support in the stadium, you hear the noise when one little thing happens on the pitch, people will try to influence the game by screaming to influence the referee. In Holland you feel pressure and support as well, with fans coming to training the last day before the [rivalry] match, shooting off fireworks, things like that. These are the games you want to play in, they are special.” Since Leerdam’s arrival in the Emerald City, he has helped to bolster a Sounders FC defense that established a new franchise record of 421 consecutive scoreless minutes in July and August, in addition to breaking the club record for consecutive matches unbeaten. Since signing for Seattle on July 1, the Dutch defender has made an
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immediate impact, recording a goal and an assist in his first MLS start. But stats barely tell the story, as Leerdam’s experience has been immediately felt at a position General Manager & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey publicly stated was an area of emphasis for his club during the summer transfer window. Lagerwey reinforces this notion: “Kelvin has been a great addition to our team and has simply brought a different level to the fullback position in our system. Adding Kelvin is another big step for our club. To get a player with European experience in his prime who spurned offers to play [UEFA] Champions League to come to Seattle is a sign of our progress. Importantly, Kelvin has also had a positive cultural impact on our team as a player and as a person. We are really happy he has come to join us here in Seattle.” Already a difference-maker for the Rave Green, Leerdam recalls the phone call that changed his life and started the process of bringing him Stateside. “Dave [Tenney] was the first guy I spoke with. He asked me if I was interested in coming [to Seattle] … I followed U.S. sports a lot, it’s a country I always wanted to be in. So we kept the option open [of coming to Seattle], and it took a few weeks, and after that I spoke to coach [Brian Schmetzer], Chris [Henderson] and Garth [Lagerwey] and they gave me a very good feeling. I spoke a lot with Garth toward the end of the negotiations, and I think the best thing you can get as a person is if they give you a good feeling. Garth did a good job to make me feel comfortable when I was speaking with him, and in the end I have no regrets about the decision. I feel good, I feel happy … I’m looking forward and I hope I can stay a long time in Seattle.” Director of Performance and Sports Science for Sounders FC, Dave Tenney knew of Leerdam from his Dutch connections, and recalls the traits that made the fullback an intriguing fit for Brian Schmetzer’s side. “He obviously had a very good pedigree at Feyenoord and Vitesse, and I knew a couple of the coaches he’d worked with, and he’d trained and played at the very highest level,”
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said Tenney. “He was someone we knew would be comfortable in possession, was very athletic, and having watched him in the Dutch league had the profile to play right back in this league.” That call from Tenney and subsequent discussions with Seattle’s brass enabled Leerdam to complete his move to the United States, a country with a sporting culture he had been keeping an eye on from afar. Watching American sports programming in the Netherlands like ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption and First Take had piqued his interest in U.S. sports, with Leerdam already holding an affinity for collegiate and professional basketball. “It started while I was still at Feyenoord. My father loves almost every sport, and at that time ESPN was shown on TV in the Netherlands, and I started watching it almost every day. I was watching a lot of NCAA basketball. I always like to see a lot of the young players you don’t see in the NBA yet… and I would see those shows [Pardon the Interruption and First Take] for background information about things that happen in the NBA and NFL and things like that. You see the discussions, it’s very lively and funny to watch. I love the discussions and luckily I can understand enough English to enjoy them.” Leerdam continues, “That’s the great thing about American sports. It’s not just the guy you see on the TV, but it’s also the story behind him and the story he’s been through. That’s what connected me to American sports, it’s a lot of things that happened in his life before that make his journey so interesting. You want people like that to succeed because it’s not easy. I know where I came from, maybe that’s why I’m drawn to [those types of stories].” Leerdam’s own story has included a variety of twists and turns. From growing-up in Suriname – a former Dutch enclave on the northeastern tip of South America – to catching the discerning eye of professional scouts after moving to Holland as a youth, soccer has remained a constant for the 27-year-old. Leerdam’s father Marlon Grando played the sport in his native Suriname and was a mainstay for his country’s national
Leerdam shields Diego Valeri off the ball during Seattle-Portland in August at CenturyLink Field.
team, while his family tree boasts some of the finest contemporary talents in the global game. This familial network includes cousins Georginio and Giliano Wijnaldum, with the latter playing at fellow MLS side Philadelphia Union and the former a previous teammate at Feyenoord and now an established attacking star at English power Liverpool. Leerdam considers the elder Wijnaldum to be the finest current Dutch export in a long line of talented players representing the Netherlands, “Not because he’s somebody I played with a long time and is family, I just watch his performances at Liverpool and he’s the best Dutch player now.” For Leerdam, his passion for the game is firmly rooted to his family, down to the number 18 he currently wears for Sounders FC. “My mother played, my father played – everybody in Suriname played. Everyone there speaks highly of my father as a player, and I never got to see him play, but I took his number [in Seattle] because he always talked about the importance of his number... My father played in CONCACAF tournaments, he played in the Azteca Stadium [in Mexico City] and showed
me pictures, and he [played] in Olympic Qualifiers with Suriname and played a lot of games. I’m close with my father, and I’m close with my mother. I have a good bond with both of my parents.” For now, Leerdam is seamlessly adjusting to his new club and country, serving as an ambassador for his familial legacy and the soccer traditions of two nations. His Suriname roots serve as a source of pride, as does the Dutch football background he brings to Seattle’s mosaic of football cultures and experiences. Tactical versatility has always gone hand-in-hand in with the Dutch style, allowing a relatively small nation of 17 million people to become a longstanding global power in the world’s most popular sport. For the affable Leerdam, it’s all about providing his new club with options: “I’m focused on defense first. Of course I hope to bring something extra [in the attack]. I’ve always played midfield, but in the last four or five years I’ve been primarily playing defense: left back, center back, right back. Everything except the goalkeeper!”
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, Who s Invited?
Midfielder Cristian Roldan is having another dream season playing for Sounders FC. We asked Cristian to imagine his ideal dinner party where he could invite any guest, eat his favorite meal and talk about whatever he wanted.
A B C D E
Diego Maradona Michael Jordan Lionel Messi Tupac Shakur My girlfriend*
A B
2 1
, What s For Dinner?
Topic of Conversation?
1
My mom's chicken parmesan
2
Jordan Morris , dad s steak
3
A nice salad on the side
4
Ice cream and brownies for dessert
,
I would talk to the athletes (Maradona, Jordan and Messi) about their careers and their lives. I would talk to Tupac about making his music and everything he went through to be successful. My girlfriend and I would be listening very nicely.
C
D
3 4
* Not Pictured
Xbox and Sounders FC are proud to partner with many local community organizations to present the Sounders FC Dream Team!
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MILK ISN’ T ORANGE. SO WHY IS YOUR C HEESE?
NATURALLY
WHITE
Cheddar.
Make URBANE part of your game day ritual. Featuring sustainable and farm-to-table fresh ingredients found locally in the Pacific Northwest, Urbane is the perfect location for pre and post match gatherings. Offering easy access to the Link Light Rail, join us for our daily happy hour specials. Urbane is located in Hyatt at Olive 8, the official hotel of Seattle Sounders FC and the only dual LEED and Green Seal certified hotel in town. Happy Hour 4p – 6:30p (daily) 1639 8th Ave (at Olive) 206.676.4600 urbaneseattle.com
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SCOUTING
REPORT
Steve Zakuani breaks down the upcoming Sounders FC matchup with the Quest Diagnostics Scouting Report Watch the latest episode on SOUNDERSFC.COM
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