Ian Feuer

Feuer moved to Belgium in 1988, where his Las Vegas youth team had previously played in a youth tournament.[5] When they visited, he stayed with a local Belgian family and the same family contacted a neighbour who was connected to reserve team coach Gilbert Marmenhout at Belgian First Division club Club Brugge. He was offered a trial and impressed enough to be offered a year long deal to play with the club's under-16 squad. Brugge also organised a foster home with a local woman for him to live nearby and he attended a Belgian school that specialised in printing,[8] where he learned Dutch.[6] Unable to drive due to his age, Feuer would cycle to training everyday.[4]

After nine months with the youth side, he received a call-up for the reserve team, who were short of goalkeepers due to injury and sickness, to travel to France to play in an under-23 tournament. His performances in the tournament led him to be offered a professional contract with Brugge on his return to Belgium and saw him named as third-choice goalkeeper for the senior team.[6][9] In 1991, he joined Molenbeek, also of the Belgian First Division, on loan from Brugge. He played nineteen league matches for Molenbeek and the club made approaches to Brugge about signing Feuer on a permanent deal but were rejected.[10][5]

While with Molenbeek, Feuer was called up to the U.S. national team and made his international debut when he came on for Mark Dodd in the 71st minute of a 3–1 defeat against Morocco in Casablanca on a March 18, 1992. He was also named on the U.S. roster at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona as second choice behind Brad Friedel but did not feature in the competition.[9]

Having returned to Brugge, Feuer grew frustrated with his lack of playing time and was not being paid by the club but was unable to secure a transfer as Brugge refused to release him from his contract. However, he met Rick Davis, general manager of Los Angeles Salsa, who appealed to FIFA regarding the situation and secured Feuer's release from his contract.[5] He returned to the U.S. and played for Salsa in their 1993 American Professional Soccer League season, making 17 regular season appearances for them and keeping four clean sheets.[11][12] He missed seven matches during the season due to undergoing knee surgery in August 1993 before returning for a play-off semi-final match against Vancouver 86ers.[8] The team eventually lost to the Colorado Foxes in the championship game.[11] The Salsa were coached by Rildo Menezes, who had previously coached him as a youngster, and the Brazilian described Feuer as "the best goalie in the U.S.".[8] He was named Rookie goalkeeper of the season whilst with Salsa and was the league's most successful goalkeeper in overtime shootouts.[nb 1][10][13]

Feuer joined London based club West Ham United for an undisclosed fee for the 1994–95 season becoming the first American goalkeeper to move to the first tier of English football.[12] He did not play any competitive matches for them, with Luděk Mikloško being their first choice keeper.[14] West Ham instead loaned Feuer to Division Two club Peterborough United on 20 February 1995 and he was to play sixteen games for The Posh that season.[15]

On 11 September 1995, Feuer began another loan spell, this time with First Division side Luton Town on an initial three-month deal. He debuted for them two days later against Millwall and started fourteen straight league matches for the Hatters up to a game against Tranmere Rovers on 2 December 1995. On 14 December, he joined Luton on a permanent basis for a fee of £580,000. His first game as a full Luton player was on 16 December 1995 versus Portsmouth. In total he played 38 league games for Luton in the 1995–96 season,[16] being named the club's player of the year.[7]

He established himself as the club's first choice as keeper, seeing time in 97 League matches overall for Luton,[17] until he tore a muscle his right shoulder during a match against Southend United in August 1997, ending a 90 match consecutive appearance streak.[18] During his time out with injury, Kelvin Davis was chosen to deputise and, on his return, Feuer was unable to force his way back into the side.[19]

On March 24, 1998, Major League Soccer (MLS) signed Feuer from Luton Town. MLS allocated Feuer to the New England Revolution on a four-year contract following Walter Zenga's decision to retire from playing.[20] Having agreed to the move in an attempt to force his way into the squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he made his debut for the club in an overtime shootout defeat to D.C. United.[3] He went on make 26 appearances in the 1998 season and became the tallest player in the history of MLS.[18] During the offseason, Feuer returned to England on loan to join Football Conference club Rushden & Diamonds. The club had been searching for an experienced goalkeeper following injuries to Mark Gayle and Mark Smith, leaving youth team player Steve Corry as the squad's only available goalkeeper. He had been recommended to manager Brian Talbot by coach Terry Westley who had signed Feuer during his time in charge of Luton in 1995.[21] He made his debut for the non-league side in a match against Farnborough Town on 22 December 1998 before keeping a clean-sheet in his league debut four days later against Stevenage Borough. However, Feuer contracted a bout of flu during the match against Stevenage and was forced to miss the club's following match against Woking before returning to the starting line-up for an FA Cup tie against Premier League side Leeds United.[22] Despite struggling to eat for two days prior to the match, Feuer decided to play and was credited with an impressive performance to keep a clean sheet and was named man of the match to help earn his side a replay,[21][23] eventually losing 3–1 on 13 January 1999.[24] He played seven matches in all competitions during his loan spell and the club made an attempt to sign Feuer on a permanent basis but were unable to afford the fee that the MLS wanted for his release.[22]

When he returned to New England he was traded to the Colorado Rapids for a future draft consideration on February 24, 1999. The Revs traded Feuer when Walter Zenga announced his intention to return to playing for New England.[18] On his arrival in Colorado, he was initially the club's reserve goalkeeper behind Marcus Hahnemann. However, when Hahnemann moved to Fulham during the season,[25] Feuer stepped into the nets for the Rapids last nineteen games of the season.[26]

In January 2000, Feuer signed with Cardiff City on a monthly contract as a backup keeper to provide cover for Jon Hallworth,[27] although he did not play a match for the club. A month later, he rejoined West Ham United as manager Harry Redknapp sought cover for Shaka Hislop who had suffered a broken leg.[28] He made his debut, six years after originally signing for the club, when he was drafted in to replace injured Canadian goalkeeper Craig Forrest in a Premier League match against Derby County on 15 April 2000,[14][29] becoming the tallest goalkeeper to play in the league.[9] He made a further two league appearances,[30] before moving to Division One club Wimbledon at the end of the 1999–2000 season. He spent the next two seasons with Wimbledon as understudy to Kelvin Davis. However, the club did loan him to Premiership side Derby County during the 2001–02 season following an injury to first choice goalkeeper Mart Poom.[31] He was one of several players released by Wimbledon at the end of the 2001–02 season as the club looked to reduce costs due to financial difficulties.[32]

Following his release, Feuer spent time on trial at Wycome Wanderers and Leyton Orient,[33] where he played in three pre-season matches and was offered a permanent contract by manager Paul Brush.[34] However, he failed to respond to the club's contract offer and on August 12, 2002, Feuer signed a week by week contract with Tranmere Rovers when their starting keeper, Keith Welch, was injured. He remained there for two weeks, playing in league matches against Colchester United and Cheltenham Town,[35] before being asked to go on a trial with Arsenal. He spent six weeks at the North London based club but a move was cancelled by his former agent who Feuer described as "dissatisfied".[9] Feuer instead went on a trial with Wolverhampton Wanderers. He joined the club on a non-contract basis as cover for the injured Michael Oakes during September 2002 where he featured as an unused substitute in two league games.[36] Less than a week later, Crystal Palace attempted to sign Feuer when Matt Clarke was injured.[37] However, they could not come to terms with Feuer and pulled out of the deal. Feuer then retired from playing professionally and returned to the U.S. to start a coaching career. He was appointed goalkeeper coach for LA Galaxy in 2007, remaining in the role until 2013 when he was replaced by Matt Reis.[38]