Millwall’s relegation and Kasey’s future plans
Brian Hinkle
Issaquah, Wash.
Since Millwall has been relegated to the English Second Division, are you going to be looking for a new club at the higher divisions? What clubs are you looking at, and who is interested in you?
KK: Well, you’re always looking for a new club — unless you’re playing for AC Milan or Manchester United. You always want to play at the highest possible level. It’s not a case where I can just pass my resume around —
Millwall has to be willing to let me go. I do have one more year left on my contract, but I think the chances are pretty good that I’ll be moving away from Millwall this summer.
There’s always been plenty of interest (from other clubs), but you can’t really judge what you read in the paper. Things come and go so quickly — you have no idea if something’s going to happen or not until it’s already happened.
PB: Do you have any preference as to where you’d like to go?
KK: No, not particularly. I’d like to stay in London, but if I have to move up north that’s not a problem. (Nor is) moving onto the continent — my wife and I are really flexible.
PB: What was this past season like for you, with Millwall starting out so well, and then crashing out at season’s end?
KK: It was very difficult. At the beginning of the season, for whatever reason, we seemed to be getting that odd goal. We’d win 1-0; we’d draw 1-1; we’d win 2-1. Then after Thanksgiving, we just stopped scoring — I think we went five straight games without scoring, and we ended up having 17 league games where we didn’t score a goal. That just started to weigh on us. We’d concede a goal — either a great goal by them, or a mistake, a penalty, whatever — and everyone felt, “Well, we’re not gonna win now.” It just became too heavy.
Near the end of season, we had several games where we lost 1-0 on a last-minute penalty, a last-minute goal, a bad decision by the referee — it just caught up to us. We kept saying, “O.K., one more win, one more win,” but we couldn’t get it — we ended up going out of the league on goals for.
PB: Do you think the managerial change (Jimmy Nicholl took over in early 1996 after Mick McCarthy left to coach Ireland’s national team) had any impact?
KK: Well, I think what he (Nicholl) felt was that if he maybe shook the boat a little bit and we got a few wins in a row, we were right back into a playoff spot. I think he might have shaken the boat a little too much — we never really had a settled side at all. He just thought that there was so much talent that it would eventually come around, but we ran out of time. Also, we had three games in a row where players were sent off; we had games where with suspensions we were missing four or five starters — that really killed us at the end.
Tim Olson
San Francisco, Calif.
Do you have any interest in playing here in the U.S. for an MLS team? If so, any teams that you would tend to favor playing for?
KK: I’d love to be home and supporting the league as much as possible, but at this time I really can’t afford to. If situations change, the league continues to progress as well as it has already, and someone makes an offer I can’t refuse, then, yes, I will come home. But as of right now, I don’t see myself coming back in the near future unless something really spectacular comes around.
As far as teams go, if a new team was formed in Portland or Seattle, and there was major backing for me to come back, that would probably be my preference. Of the existing teams in the league right now, I wouldn’t have a problem with any of them — I’d love to see some different sights.
PB: Have you had a chance to see any MLS games yet?
KK: No, I’ve only been back for a few days. I’ll definitely see some games this summer, there’s no doubt about that. It’ll be interesting. What I’ve heard is that the biggest problem is the pitches — they’re just too small. They’ll definitely need to rectify that for next season.
U.S. National Team
Dennis O’Connell
San Luis Obispo, Calif.
I have heard bits and pieces over the years on why you were left out of the squad for the 1994 World Cup. What’s your version of the story?
KK: I’ve heard everything that everyone else has heard, and I’m about as clueless as everyone else. I’ve never been given a reason — that’s about as bluntly as I can put it. I can speculate as much as everyone else — maybe I’d be close, maybe I’d be far away — but the truth of the matter is that I’ve never been given an answer.
PB: Why aren’t you in the lineup for the Scotland friendly on May 26?
KK: Steve (Sampson) called me and we discussed the situation. He said he was very happy with what I had done, and I’d just come off of a really nasty season. I knew he was planning on giving Juergen (Sommer) a game anyway, and he said there wasn’t any reason for me to come in — go to Hawaii and have a good time. He said, “I anticipate you having a busy summer,” and he left it at that. If I can steal a week or two here or there, that’s great, and (not being called up) is gonna give me an extra week. I’ll be in camp June 4 for the U.S. Cup.
Joe Willmore
Washington, D.C.
Tactically speaking, what do you see as the overall strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. national team?
KK: The strength we have right now is that we have a very good core of players, and an influx of youth players. In past qualifying periods, it’s seemed that the youth coming up was better than the experienced players, so we were always fielding a team with no experience. Now, there are a lot of players who’ve been in Europe, who’ve got a World Cup or two under their belt, and we’ve got a very good combination of youth and experience.
We’ve also got a team with no real “egos” on it. There’s not a Stoichkov or someone who is always complaining that a teammate isn’t passing the ball exactly right. When everyone is fit and healthy, we’ve got a team that works extremely hard for one another and everyone is very happy about playing for the U.S. That’s a key factor. I know England has had a lot of trouble in the past with their summer tournaments where no one wants to be there — they all want to be on vacation because the season’s so long. That’s not a problem with the U.S. team — everyone’s really pulling for each other.
One of our weaknesses has been that, in the past, we’ve had players who might not have been playing competitively somewhere. That’s always difficult because it’s important for everyone to be playing at a decent level of competition. MLS is definitely changing that, and hopefully it will continue to grow. That was really the only weakness the team has had — we’ve had good players who’ve had to supplement their training and their time at a college team or whatever else when they really should be playing at a high level somewhere.
Rand Swenson
West Lebanon, N.H.
With the large number of quality keepers that the U.S. national team has, is it detrimental to continue to rotate starts rather than settling on a starter and one backup?
KK: I don’t think it’s detrimental at this point. I think Steve’s having a good look at everyone and he’s going to make his decision and stop rotating when qualifying starts. That’s really when it matters. All these games up until now — he needs to have a look at players and to see who he thinks will be the best team for qualifying. Granted, I’d love to start every game, but the important thing is that the team qualifies. Whatever role Steve has for me in that plan is fine. If he needs me to come in as experience, moral support, whatever, I’m there for the team.
David Fiorito
Wallingford, Pa.
What is the general perception of the U.S. national team and American players in the eyes of the British managers, players, fans, and media?
KK: Well, I think there’s a level of respect that hasn’t been there in the past, but it’s not on a par with a lot of other countries. I think the American goalkeeping has gotten pretty close, but the American field player might not quite be given the same chances that someone else will. What we need is for that one superstar to break through; for that one guy to be bought from a First Division team by a real world-stage team like a Barcelona or an AC Milan, and for him to be successful at that level. Until that happens, I think you’ll still have that question mark.
Soccer in England
Ben Newton
Ann Arbor, Mich.
I know that Millwall supporters have a reputation for being pretty rough, and that there were a few incidents during and after Millwall’s last game of the season at Ipswich. I was wondering how much this sort of thing affects the players. Also, at what time has hooliganism hit closest to home for you?
KK: Millwall does have a bad reputation, and there’s usually some merit to that reputation. The majority of Millwall fans, although they might be a little bit more vocal, a little bit quicker to turn than those of other teams, are not out running on the pitch hitting people, but there is a definite hardcore element. It is difficult — it is distracting at times. You want to be out there playing, not worrying about someone running onto the field and suspensions and getting a game behind closed doors — that always looms on a player’s mind. On the other side of it, it can be a positive too. There’s a lot of teams that are sometimes a little intimidated about coming down to Millwall, and they may worry about the fans more than we do. I haven’t really had anything hit close to home for me personally, but I’ve been in a lot of games where Millwall fans have either invaded the pitch, or where I’ve had to leave the pitch in a hurry. I’ve never had a direct hooligan attack on me.
Chris Ducar
Wethersfield, Conn.
Keeper camps are exploding across the U.S. What is it like in England? Is there a similar phenomenon, or do keepers get their specialty training through each club’s keeper coaches?
KK: I’ve been very disappointed with the training in England on all levels, which has been really surprising. There was always an unwritten law that England had the best goalkeepers, and I think (the subpar training) might be one of the reasons why that’s changing. They haven’t specialized as much as a lot of other countries have, including the U.S. Most of the training for kids happens through the clubs, and I haven’t seen that there has been real intensive goalkeeper training. I think England is definitely lagging behind what’s in the States.
Goalkeeping
Mike Biondi
Syracuse, N.Y.
What qualities separate an excellent goalkeeper from an average/good one?
KK: I think there’s a couple qualities. Decision-making is CRUCIAL. We’re all going to make bad decisions, no matter what game or what level, but you have to make as few of them as you can. Also second chances. If you can almost guarantee that whatever shot comes in, there’s not going to be a rebound, or that even if you don’t catch the ball, it goes clear, or you get it around the post, that’s great. The key is to just hold everything and to ensure that there aren’t any rebounds. There’s different levels of distribution, different levels of coming out for crosses, which really folds back into the decision-making process, but those are the two key factors.
Aaron St. George
Peralta, N.M.
In your opinion, how important is weight training for keepers? At what age should a young keeper start weight training?
KK: Well, I wouldn’t necessarily specify weight training for goalkeeping or soccer. I think weight training is something that can be important for general athletic ability, but it needs to be looked into very carefully. I don’t want to just tell you to go and hit the weights, because you need to talk to someone who really knows what they’re doing. Parents should talk to their child’s pediatrician about it and about when would be a good time to start, because different children develop at different times. If you’re still in the middle of a very large growth spurt, for example, it might not be the time to start. Perhaps through your doctor, you can find a physical therapist who could then point you towards a physical trainer more specialized in that area. I, myself, had very good weight training. I didn’t really start until I was 13 or 14, but it helped tremendously. I’ve just hired someone in England, apart from the club, to look after the physical side, because I really want to get back into it.
Ray Gajan
King George, Va.
What type of corner kick gives you the most trouble? What is the best way to distract a keeper on a corner?
KK: Anytime you have someone like a big central defender that’s come up onto your near post, and a very hard, whipped-in, inswinging corner with lots of bodies around you where it’s going to be difficult to catch the ball cleanly and you’re not going to get a good punch on it, that’s the most difficult. Anything that’s hung-up and floating — very, very simple, but a really hard-driven, low, near-post corner is always going to give you a little palpitation.
To distract a keeper, it’s almost better to get a smaller guy in front of the keeper — a guy who’s very good at just hooking the keeper’s arm or pushing him out of the way ever so slightly — because the referee will be less likely to see a smaller guy distracting a very large goalkeeper. It’s not a vision thing; it’s more of a movement thing. When the keeper starts to make his play to come out and collect the ball, and he just gets bumped very lightly, it can throw everything awry. That would be my recommendation — as long as it’s not against me!
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions for Kasey. If you’d like to be a part of SA Online’s Ask a Star, go to the INTERACTIVE area of SA Online and click on Ask a Star. Brian McBride of the Columbus Crew will answer questions posted by May 26.