World Cup legend ‘wished Brazil conflict postponed’ earlier than Romario gave him final reward
A World Cup legend admitted he didn’t want to play against Brazil before keeping a clean sheet in a historic victory when he was personally lauded by Romario.
Kasey Keller was the first of a talented era of USA goalkeepers as the Washington-born star enjoyed a successful career in England with the likes of Millwall, Leicester City, Tottenham and Fulham. However, it was one international performance that has gone down in history in his homeland.
Keller produced arguably the greatest clean sheet of his career against Brazil in the 1998 Gold Cup semi-final, where he made 10 saves in preserving a 1-0 victory for the US.
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Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport via William Hill’s World Cup 2026 winner odds, Keller recalled the game but revealed he never wanted to play in it that day, hoping it would be postponed due to adverse weather after he arrived jet lagged.
“It’s still the only time we’ve beaten Brazil so I guess that’s kind of a landmark. For me it was weird because I had just flown in because it was being played in a non-European window.
“So I think [Brad] Friedel played the group stage, and then I came in for the knockout stage. I’ll be honest with you, I was a little jetlagged and there was rain in the morning in LA, and LA doesn’t cope with rain very well.
“There was a possibility that the game would get postponed, and I was kind of hoping that it would get postponed to give me an extra day to get assimilated. And then after the game, I was very happy that it didn’t get postponed.”
His performance was lauded by Brazil great Romario, who called Keller’s display: “The best performance by a goalkeeper I have ever seen.”
Keller also had a song dedicated to him by synth-pop band Barcelona, called ‘Kasey Keller’, with the brilliant lyrics: ‘Kasey saves the day again, it’s Brazil, one to nil. Thirty shots on goal, we both know you won’t fail.’
The tournament was hosted in Miami, Los Angeles and Oakland and saw USA top a group of Costa Rica and Cuba with two wins.
Former Everton and Portsmouth midfielder Preki scored the only goal of the game to beat Brazil but Keller and co were unable to win the trophy after losing the final 1-0 to Mexico after Luis Hernandez’s second half goal.
Keller played 102 times for the US but he had to rival Premier League icon Brad Friedel for the No.1 spot before the emergence of Tim Howard in the early noughties.
He kept his place between the sticks for the 2006 World Cup, being the only player to feature in both the 1990 World Cup and the Germany tournament.
